Mayhem Squared
by CASE iN POiNT
Summary: The Lyoko gang is under attack again, except this time it's in both the real world and the virtual world. Seen through Yumi's perspective, Xana's attacks are getting more devious and deadly. Why? Xana's creating a human army. Last chapter up! R&R!
1. Sleepover

"I'm bored."

I banged my fists on the ground. "Enough Odd. You've been whining about the same thing for over an hour. Just relax," I glanced over at him briefly. "And read the book I so generously loaned to you. No," I said as I saw him flip causally through the pages, "I mean actually read it. Like read the words." Then I smiled and added just for fun, "We all know you can't read, Odd. But you can try...for me." Ulrich started laughing behind me. Odd threw me an angry glance.

"Ha ha ha...very funny." Odd tossed my book onto the floor. "Its not interesting."

"Well, of course it isn't interesting. You haven't read it." I picked up the book and waved it in front of his face. "Get it? You read books?" He tried grabbing the book out of my hand but I didn't let him. I turned my back toward him instead and placed the book in my lap. I flipped through the pages and skimmed a few. "There's some really great stuff in here, if you took the time. A whole new world will open up to you and the author does write quite a good history of it."

Jeremy looked up momentarily and the rhythm of fingers on the keyboard stopped. "Another world. Like Lyoko?"

"Like Lyoko," Ulrich agreed. I nodded although Jeremy couldn't see.

Jeremy turned in his swivel chair to face the three of us sprawled on the floor in our blankets with our pillows in front of us. He took the book Odd had been trying to read from my hands and looked at it thoroughly: front, back, side, inside cover, inside back cover, and some of the pages. "Pass inspection?" I asked jokingly. Surprisingly he nodded and handed it back to me.

"Looks like a good book," he said, adjusting his oval glasses and running a hand through his blonde hair. "Maybe I'll read it when Odd's finished."

"Highly unlikely, as Odd doesn't really seem interested in beginning it right now," Ulrich said causally, glancing past me at Odd who gave him a nasty look.

"Besides," I added, "you're way too busy with your computers and Lyoko and everything. Oh, and...Aelita."

Jeremy leaned into my face and gave me a harsh shush. Then he swiveled back toward his computer anxiously. On swiveling back, he gave a little sigh. "Whew. Yumi, she could have heard!"

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, Jeremy." I put aside my own book I was reading and crawled over to kneel next to Jeremy and stare at the computer with him. "You should tell her how you feel," I said, this time in a whisper.

Jeremy stared at me through his glasses with wide eyes. "Um...no...I..." I saw him blush and smiled. I patted his shoulder and returned under my warm blanket. Just as I had gotten my legs underneath my blanket I felt something fuzzy and warm at the end of it. I froze and watched as the blanket at my feet wriggled. Instantly, I scrambled out of my blanket, knocking it askew. "What are you...?" Ulrich started to ask and then found his answer when Odd's dog, Kiwi, was revealed when my blanket went flying. Odd was laughing his head off.

"I can't believe...you fell for that one!" he said between gasps for breath. Kiwi, confused at why his owner was laughing, yapped in delight anyway and bounded into his arms. I slid Odd an angry look as he pounded his blanket with mirth. He let his head fall back on his pillow and shortly after, his laughter subsided. "That was a good one!" he exclaimed as he wiped tears from his eyes generated from laughing.

"Sssh!" Jeremy suddenly exclaimed. "Someone could..."

There was a knock on the door.

Everyone froze.


	2. Busted

"Hey, open up in there," came the unmistakable voice of Jim, the pesky adult that was supposed to be a gym teacher but he also adopted a "over seer" status at our boarding school without anyone asking. And I don't think anyone would have asked.

"Um..." Jeremy said nervously, since it was his room. "Hold on..." He glanced quickly at Odd who was frantically trying to shove Kiwi under Jeremy's bed. Kiwi was whining rather loudly but Odd managed to push Kiwi under the bed and to block any escape attempt with Jeremy's trunk under the bed and his pillow. Then Jeremy glanced at me, but I shrugged when I glanced back. What was I supposed to do? Climb out the window and just pray I wouldn't break anything on the four-story fall to the ground? I knew I wasn't supposed to be in the boys section of the dormitories, much less in one of their rooms but we were all friends and I didn't think we would get caught (no thanks to Odd). So escape was impossible for me.

Jim was just starting to get impatient, the only thing he was skilled at. "Don't say hold on to me. I'll bust down the door if I have to."

"Okay, okay, coming." Jeremy rushed to the door, gulped, and opened it. It creaked slowly on its hinges and revealed a towering Jim in his red athletic jacket and sweat pants. I fixed my eyes on his. In one expert sweep he had already spotted everything there was to spot. "Yumi, come with me." That was all that was said. I glanced at Ulrich once, saw him shrug in helplessness at me, and I marched with Jim out the door. Just as Jim was about to close the door he opened it again and said almost directly to Odd, "I also could have swore I heard a dog whining in here."

Odd gave him a big innocent smile. "Nope sir must be mistaken. No dogs here." When Jim remained unconvinced, Jeremy and Ulrich tried to help by contributing their own big innocent smiles. Jim sighed. "All right, but if you hear anything, give me a call." He closed the door and I was busted.

"Yumi, do you mind if I accompany you to your room?" he asked, expecting what the answer would be.

"I don't mind at all," I said pleasantly, as if we were just taking a stroll around the campus. I wished our tone could stay this way all the way to my new room.

"Now Yumi," Jim started. I could tell that Jim was restraining himself from bursting at me. "Yumi, even though this is your first year you actually are living in the dorms but you know that girls aren't allowed over in the boys section and girls are certainly not allowed in their rooms." I nodded. Jim looked at me hard. "Then why were you over there?"

"Jim, weren't you ever my age before?"

Jim scratched his stubbly beard thoughtfully. "I think so."

"That'll do," I said hurriedly. "Well, don't you ever remember the thrill of reuniting with old friends after a long summer? The joy that you can spend a whole year with your best friends again?"

"Um..." Jim thought harder.

"Jim," I said gently, though inside I was shaking with laughter. "Jim, did you ever have any friends?"

"No...not that I know of." He was still thinking hard.

"Oh well then you would never understand. Anyway I just thought that since it was the first weekend of the school year and there wasn't much homework my friends and I could all have fun but I see now that that cannot be the case. Oh well." I drew out a long sigh, partly to add drama to my statement and partly to express my relief that we were nearing the door to my room.

When we were right in front of my door, I turned to face Jim. "Well, Jim," I said, satisfied that I had stumped Jim enough for a couple of days and by the time he figured out what I meant, he would have forgotten this whole fiasco. "I'm glad we had this chat." This was too easy. I did this all the time but this time it was as if he was made of stone, unable to think about anything.

Suddenly, repulsively, I said something that I shouldn't have. I don't know why I said it. Maybe it was just because it sounded good. Maybe it gave me even more satisfaction than I already had. But I said it just the same and I now know well that you can't take back what you say.

"I guess its true...what they say..." I said, inspecting Jim closely for any reactions to anything I had said before. "People that can't do, teach and people that can't teach, teach gym. Goodnight."

With that I opened my door and walked into my room and then silently closed the door again. Jim was still outside it, I could see, figuring out everything in his pea-sized brain. But what I had just said must have triggered a switch, which made him think things through quicker than ever before.

Five minutes later, Jim gave a bellow that could have been heard all the way to the end of the boys' side of the dorms. "YUMI!!!!!!"


	3. Telling the Gang

"Detention?" Ulrich asked me the next day. "For what?"

"Oh...uh...nothing big. I just said some stuff I shouldn't have."

"Really?" Ulrich said, leaning against the side of the building our next class was in.

"Yeah..."

"Like what?"

"Oh...I implied that he was dumb many times but I don't think he figured those out. But he did figure out the last one."

"Which was?"

"Well, I said to him that what people say is true. That people who can't do, teach and people that can't teach, teach gym."

"Nice one Yumi, but that isn't the way to go to get off the hook with Jim."

"Noticed."

"What happened after you got busted last night, Yumi?" Odd said, grinning from ear to ear. He walked toward us happily, his blonde hair with a purple spot in it matching his clothes, as usual. "I heard Jim's scream all the way from Jeremy's room. You had to have made him really mad for him to do that."

"I did make him really mad." I put my black bag down on the dusty ground near my feet. "I got a detention."

"Detention?" Odd's eyes widened but his grin never lessened. "How'd you do it? You got off easy! He would have taken the opportunity to suspend me for sure!"

"Odd!" Ulrich cut in, "Yumi never gets detentions."

"It's fine, guys. I'll deal with it. Where's Jeremy?"

"I don't know," Ulrich answered. "He slept really late though. I would know cause he kept me awake all night talking to Aelita. I think they didn't end on a particularly happy note though."

I sighed and leaned against the wall as well. "Please don't let them be in another fight. I don't want to have to be Jeremy's love life counselor again. I try to help him but he really does have the lamest fears about Aelita and him." I shook my head and looked up just in time to see Jeremy running toward us.

"Hey, guys!" he greeted us. "Sorry I'm late, but I was just talking to Aelita to make sure everything in Lyoko was fine. She said everything was okay."

"I'm not surprised," I commented. "It's strange, but nothing happened with Xana over the summer. You would think he would attack then, since we wouldn't be able to stop him without getting to the school and that wouldn't be easy. But he didn't. So I'm really not surprised that anything would go on with Xana now."

"Agreed," Ulrich said, "but I'm still worried. He might be planning something."

"Come on, Ulrich," Odd said causally, "when is he ever not planning something?"

Just then the bell rang. "Yay, math...not," Ulrich grumbled as he trudged in. Even though this was an easy class I usually slept through, I had the same thought as him.

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After school, instead of walking to my dorm or to the field to have a little fun like everyone else, I walked to a forlorn looking building in the back of all the educational buildings. Its drab paint (in the brilliant color gray) gave the walls a cold, forbidding look. I gulped, for that's what I felt. I felt as if I was convicted of a crime and sentenced to prison for an hour. This was my prison.

The only soothing thought I had as I walked over there was that Ulrich was with me. He offered to walk me to detention. I don't know why he would want to walk me there, as if the positions were switched I probably would have made the same offer but then wished with all my might that he would say no, it wouldn't be necessary. Anyway, he was thoughtful in doing this because as much as I said to everyone that it wasn't a big deal and I could handle it, I knew inside that exactly the opposite was true. To me detention was always for those punks that didn't care for following rules, whose mottos were that rules were created to be broken. And now that I was joining them was more than I could bear.

We reached the red door that was the entry to my doom. The red door was the only spot of color on the entire building other than shades of gray. Even then, the door was scratched and the paint was starting to peel. I shuddered and took out the piece of yellow paper Jim had given me. I unwrapped it slowly, and saw the clumsy handwriting of Jim on it, stating that I was accused of talking back, and insulting a teacher unnecessarily. I shuddered again. Then I felt Ulrich's hand on my shoulder. I looked up.

"You okay?" he asked gently, his face full of concern. I instantly felt better.

"I'm fine. Thanks for coming with me though. You should go back. I'm pretty sure the others will be waiting."

He smiled. "Naw, they don't care about me that much." He let his hand drop back to his side and I turned toward the door.

"Here goes," I whispered to myself, though I think Ulrich heard me. I reached out and twisted the doorknob. The red door swung open.


	4. Detention

The inside was just as musty as the outside, except it seemed that everything was covered with a thin layer of dust. My footsteps echoed around the room, making me even more nervous. I noticed a tough looking bunch of students in the back corner of the room to my right. I walked past them hurriedly and could feel every pair of eyes on me. Then the door swung closed behind me, making a thump. Jim was sitting in a desk right in front of me with his legs crossed up on the table. He eyed me warily and took the paper I handed out to him.

Apparently I was the last student that was going to be in detention. Once I sat down in a desk that was in the middle of the room, Jim lazily told us to settle down. I looked around at the silent room. Okay, that was an unnecessary command. "Its an hour, don't forget," Jim said, trying to put some authority into what he was saying, but not really succeeding. "And keep quiet," he said, seemingly as an afterthought and then settled down with a tattered book in his hands.

I reached down to my bag and took out my own book. It was the one I had been reading in Jeremy's room last night. Ulrich had given it back to me this morning. I found my bookmark and started reading.

And half an hour past without a sound. Finally, I heard the scrape of a desk and cautiously turned to look behind me. To my surprise, the punks that had been sitting clustered in the back were making a break for it, with the students in front already out the door. Before I could stop myself, I asked, "What are you doing? We still have half an hour left."

A rough looking girl with her eyebrow pierced gave me a slicing look. She pulled at her pleated plaid skirt that was way too short and layered with copious amounts of chains. "Look, wimp," she said in a way that was evident that there was gum in her mouth, "we always sneak out when half an hour has passed."

"But Jim is..." I began, turning to glance at Jim. His head was sunk into his chest and his eyes were closed.

"...sleeping," she finished for me. "He always wakes up way after the hour is already over. He just thinks we left after the hour was up." She stalked out the door when she finished informing me.

"Little, no good preps," the next boy said in a whisper though it was meant for me to hear. Anger flared in my body as I shoved my book in my bag and picked it up.

"Hey, cool it. She's new in detention. How was she supposed to know?" the next boy insisted, shoving the boy before him. "Sorry," he said then to me, "these guys are used to being that rude."

"Its okay," I said, walking beside him to the door. He looked nice, with his black hair in spikes and his violet eyes twinkling. He was wearing all black but he looked very nice in black. He held the door open for me to go through, and then shut the door quietly behind him. Inside, I saw a glimpse of Jim still snoring away.

"I'm Ben," he said as he finished shutting the door.

"I'm Yumi," I said in reply. "How come you're in detention?"

"Gum," he said simply. "Done it loads of times before. Quite fun, actually. And why are you in there?"

"I kind of insulted Jim and he got mad at me. But he's just so vulnerable and stupid, not to mention oblivious to this kind of stuff, you know? It just so funny to watch him blow up at you a few days later, although this time he figured it out a bit too quickly." I didn't expect Ben to follow anything I was saying, but he actually nodded.

"Done it before, and it is quite amusing. Some of my friends do it for fun. Oh well." I looked around and realized we were already out in front of the dorms entrance. "See you around." He waved once and took off after his friends.

"Bye," I said quietly. For some odd reason, I didn't want him to leave. I wanted to talk to him more. He seemed smarter than his punk friends though he hung out with them anyway. But the thought of talking to him more sent me blushing. Shaking my head clear, I walked into the dorm building and went up to my room.

On my door, there was a square piece of paper taped to it. It was blank on the side facing me but I peeled it off and turned it over. It had one word on it in Ulrich's handwriting. "Lyoko."

I threw my bag in my room, closed the door, crumpled the note into one hand, and started running for the warehouse.


	5. Update on Xana

Author's Note: I don't usually write these but this time I had to. I'm so sorry Shevie! Now that I think about it, you're right, I was a bit too stereotypical. Thank you for pointing that out and next time I'll try to make it more realistic. But I did it kind of for a reason because its how my story unfolds. And can't you just imagine Jim falling asleep when he isn't supposed to? I can. Plus you can find out what's wrong with Lyoko faster if Jim was asleep rather than awake the whole time. So...sorry to offend anybody and I'll try to change my ways (thank you very much for all my reviews, by the way)! Now without further ado, the next chapter...

* * *

"What's wrong?" was the first thing I said when I burst into the room which contained the super computer Jeremy always used to virtualize us. Three heads looked up and all were creased with worry. 

"Let out early, huh Yumi?" Ulrich asked. I just nodded and pushed Odd a little to the right so I could squeeze between him and Jeremy in his swivel chair. They were all looking at Aelita.

"What's happened?" I asked frantically, looking at Jeremy and then at Aelita.

"Nothing big, actually," Jeremy said, typing something into the computer. "Aelita, can you explain?"

"Sure, Jeremy," Aelita said in her soothing voice. It was so nice and comforting (not to mention calm) I relaxed a little. "It seems that the monsters in Lyoko are disappearing."

"What?" I said, leaning back a little as if to absorb the impact the statement made. "Disappearing? How?"

"We're not sure, but I've seen it a couple of times. I'm not sure if its good news or bad news."

"I have a hunch," Jeremy said, typing a few more things in. "But I hope I'm wrong." He stopped typing and leaned back into his chair. We all looked at him expectantly.

"The only way an monster from Lyoko can disappear is if it is killed. That is the only possible way we know of. But I don't think Xana would have programmed his monsters to kill each other randomly. So, I fear the worst." Jeremy gazed thoughtfully at the computer screen and then continued. "Perhaps Xana has found a way to materialize his monsters."

I stepped back in horror, as did Odd and Ulrich. Aelita gasped. "Oh Jeremy, that's terrible!" she exclaimed. Jeremy sighed and closed his eyes.

"That's the only reasonable explanation. Otherwise, how else can they be disappearing?" Jeremy shook his head. "Well, whatever the case, keep your eye out for pulsations or anything else unusual."

Aelita nodded. "Of course."

"We'll keep in touch," Jeremy said. Aelita nodded and then the screen in which her face had appeared switched off. Jeremy pushed himself off his chair and started for the elevator. The rest of us followed, mulling things over.

"But where would they go, Jeremy? If the monsters were materialized by Xana, I mean," I asked. Jeremy shook his head. We all filed into the elevator.

"I wouldn't know. There could be millions of places he would send them." We started moving steadily upward.

"What I'm thinking is how are we going to fight the monsters now?" Ulrich said gloomily. "In the virtual world we at least had our virtual abilities. Now we have nothing to fight them with if they really were materialized."

"And what if they attack the school?" Odd added hurriedly, not wanting to feel left out in asking unanswerable questions.

"Yes, these are all good questions that we must deal with, but what I really need to know is why would Xana do this? What is his purpose?" Jeremy paced around in a little circle in the elevator. The elevator shuddered to a stop and its doors opened again. We all filed out.

"Whatever he might be doing, we have to look out for it." I walked out into the bright daylight and blinked.

"Well, I'm off," Odd said, running across the bridge. "I have to feed Kiwi before he starts whining. And let me tell you, his whining gets pretty loud."

"We already know, Odd," Ulrich stated.

"Oh right, well, see you later!" Then he was climbing down the manhole that was the entrance to our tunnel that we used to get to the warehouse.

"I have to go too," I said, starting after Odd. "Homework. Not much but I still have to do it."

"I'll go with you," Ulrich said, walking beside me. "Hey, I though your detention was an hour."

"It was but it turns out that Jim falls asleep in the middle of it and doesn't wake up until the hour is already up. So we snuck out early."

"We?"

"Well, these punks were there and they acquainted me with the idea." For some reason, I needed and wanted to change the subject. I stopped and turned. "Jeremy, you coming?"

"Uh," he said, turning back toward me. "Sure, in a second." He bent down. "Have to tie my shoe!" he said with a slight laugh.

"His shoe looked fine before," Ulrich stated the truth.

"Oh well," I said and slid down into the tunnel, not bothering to use the ladder. Ulrich followed. But I didn't move ahead. "Wait," I told him and climbed back up. I popped my head out barely. I watched as Jeremy looked around to make sure no one was looking and then run back inside the warehouse. "I knew it," I declared when I jumped back down. "He's going back to talk to..." me and Ulrich exchanged smiles, "..._Aelita_!"

Laughing, I grabbed my skateboard where it had been propped by me earlier, got a running start and jumped on it. In no time I was propping it back up next to Odd's and climbing up the ladder to push open the next manhole. I climbed out and crawled onto the grass surrounding it. Ulrich climbed out a few seconds later and then we ran though the trees for the main road to the school buildings.

Unfortunately, we were met by bad luck.


	6. Icy Tension

Author's Note: Sorry, sorry, sorry, but I had to do it again! All I have to say is: starfires biggest fan, guess again! And, Shevie, your wish has been granted in this chapter. Thank you again to all my reviewers; you guys make this worth it! Now, on with the chapter...

* * *

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" came the snotty, high-pitched voice of Sissy. She sauntered into view, her long hair billowing behind her in the breeze. She was followed by her cronies, Herb and Nick: both idiots that worshiped the very ground she walked on. They started smirking under their breath. I narrowed my eyes. "What are you doing sneaking around?"

"What are you doing sneaking around, Sissy?" Ulrich cut it, redirecting the question. "Trying to make someone else's life miserable?"

"I could, but not today. I was just wondering what you guys are doing. I saw Odd come out of there a few minutes earlier. What are you guys doing? Having a party? Now all we need is Jeremy to come out of his hiding place." Sissy crossed her arms over her chest and looked triumphant.

"Sissy," I said nicely, "if you would be so kind as to let me through, I won't get angry."

"I don't think so," Sissy said, narrowing her eyes. "I'm not letting this opportunity to bust you to slip by, Yumi."

"Whoops," I said innocently. "I forgot. Its not in your nature to be kind." Sissy made an angry noise and stepped closer to me.

"What are you going to do to us Sissy? Tell your father? Tell Jim?" Ulrich asked, getting very bored. "This is stupid. Let's go, Yumi." He started down the path and I followed. Unfortunately, Sissy followed me.

"Well, Yumi," she spat my name out venomously, "I'll get you one way or another, sometime or another, for one thing or another. I'm the principal's daughter, don't forget."

"Oh, I won't forget, Miss Tattle-Tale."

"Say that again."

"Miss Tattle-Tale."

"You asked for it!" She flew at me with sloppy fists. I blocked them easily, resisting the urge to fight back and punch her in the nose. She screamed in rage and cocked her right hand back for another shot at my face.

Right before she was about to throw it, a hand reached over and grabbed her arm, preventing it from extending. I looked over to see Ben standing there, effortlessly holding Sissy back from smacking me. Sissy fidgeted and swore but he wouldn't let go. Finally she ripped her arm out of his grasp and stomped her foot in rage. "I'll get you!" she screamed in unbridled anger. "I'll get you! Both of you!" After one last pitiful squeal, she stomped off with her nose in the air followed by her cronies.

"Thanks," I said to Ben after she left.

"Sure, anything to stop that witch from making another person's life miserable." He turned to stare after her for a while. "I can't believe she actually tried to hit someone in her anger. Wonder what got into her."

"I dunno," I said innocently but made the mistake of glancing at Ulrich in the process. Instead of sounding innocent, we started laughing hysterically.

Ben turned back and cocked an eyebrow. "Okay. Was there something I missed?"

"You had to have been here five minutes ago," Ulrich said, fighting back the urge to laugh some more. "Who are you anyway?"

I flushed. "Whoops, in all the excitement I forgot to introduce you two." I felt the ice form that came with the awkwardness of introductions. "Ben, this is Ulrich. Ulrich, Ben." They nodded to each other in acknowledgement. But they both did seem a little cold toward each other, as if there really were ice forming. "Um..." I said, trying to say something witty to break the ice. I racked my brain but couldn't think of anything so I just hurried on, "I've got to go." I laughed nervously. "Homework awaits."

"Right, me too," Ben said, looking Ulrich up and down as if sizing him up. I didn't like the look and had to resist the urge of standing in front of Ulrich to protect him from Ben's gaze. "See you." Ben slouched his shoulders and walked off. I breathed out in relief.

"He looked friendly," Ulrich commented as we started for the dorm building. His voice was thick with sarcasm. Suddenly I switched sides in my thinking and stood up to defend Ben.

"You don't even know him!" I practically yelled at him.

"And you do?"

I made an impatient noise in my throat. "You know what? Just shut up!" Heat flared to my cheeks as I ran to the entrance of the dorm building, leaving a stunned Ulrich behind in my dust.


	7. Battle in Lyoko

"Aelita says that already Xana is making more monsters disappear."

We were sitting in the cafeteria eating our breakfast. I listened in dismay to what was happening in Lyoko.

"She doesn't know how he's doing it, but it's happening at a more rapid rate. We have to do something."

"Like what?" Ulrich asked, slapping Odd's hand away from his food. "We don't know anything about how Xana's doing this and why he's doing this. All we know is that Xana's making monsters disappear in Lyoko."

"Maybe we should go to Lyoko," I suggested. "We can see how the monsters are disappearing for ourselves. It's the only thing we can do, it seems, that would really help."

Jeremy hesitated and then nodded. "I guess we could get some more information that way."

Jeremy, Ulrich and I stood up. "Odd, you coming?" Ulrich asked.

Odd looked up at us and then shrugged. "No, its okay. I'd rather not go back to Lyoko so soon."

"So soon?" I asked him incredulously. "It's been over three months!"

"Oh well, catch you guys later!"

I sighed and shook my head as we walked out. "He is so hopeless."

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"Virtualization."

An immense wind blew me up and then I was traveling quickly through the tunnel that would get me to Lyoko. Once out of the tunnel, I was put together with pixels. Then I landed in a crouch in the mountains. Ulrich came right behind me.

"Hey!" a voice called to my left. I turned to see Aelita running toward us.

"Hi Aelita," I greeted her.

"How's everything going?" Ulrich asked her.

She shook her head. "Everything's fine except for the fact that Xana is making his own monsters disappear. I don't know how. But come with me. I'll lead you to the last place I saw that had monsters."

She took off running back the way she'd come. I followed, running much more swiftly than I could in real life. Ulrich kept pace right beside me.

"What are we going to do when we see the monsters, Yumi?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Wait, watch, and if they attack, attack back."

We jumped over a gap in the pathway but continued running. Suddenly, Aelita stopped at a boulder. She went behind it and motioned for us to follow.

"The monsters are right behind us, I think. That's where they were last. We can hide behind here to watch."

I poked my head over the side of the boulder. The road ahead was empty. "I don't see any..."

"Monsters!" Aelita exclaimed. She pointed to an outcropping in front of us. Three blocks were scuttling their way over to directly in front of us. Two of the three were already positioned and aiming downward at us. Their Xana symbols were glowing as there lasers prepared to fire.

Ulrich stepped in front of Aelita and me. "Move!" he yelled as the first two shots were fired. His sword drawn, he blocked the shots expertly and then retreated two steps.

"Come on, Aelita, let's go," I said. Not waiting for her response, I pulled her out from behind the boulder and turned to face two more blocks. They picked their way out from the other side of the boulder. We had been ambushed.

The two blocks in front of Aelita and me started glowing in preparation to fire. I whipped out my fan and threw it hard. It sliced one monster in half and came back to me. The other fired. I ran to my right and dodged it just in time to see another shot come from the last block on the outcropping. It went straight toward Aelita. Hoping that it would work, I threw my fan in the way of the shot. My fan deflected the shot into the first two blocks and they blew up. As I caught my fan with my hand, Ulrich jumped up and smashed the last block on the outcropping into pieces of wood. I crept up behind the one that had attempted a shot at me and kicked it off the pathway. I watched it fall into the murky depths and fade away.

I smiled as I turned to face Aelita and Ulrich. "That was easy," I stated.

"Nice shot with your fan too," Ulrich said.

I winked. "Thanks."

"Uh-oh," Aelita said, looking forward. "I think more are coming."

She was right. As I turned, I saw more blocks headed our way. Ulrich jumped beside me, his sword drawn at the ready, the yellow band around his head fluttering in the virtual wind. I stepped back and flipped open my fan. "Here we go."

The first ones shot. Ulrich and I successfully blocked all the shots. But the next volley brought misses and Aelita flew back with the impact of one to her chest. "Aelita!" I screamed and made the mistake of turning around to see if she was okay. One shot hit me in the back and I went flying as well, crying out in virtual pain as my life points drained away.

"Yumi!" Ulrich yelled frantically but had enough sense to not turn around, as I had done. I slid a few inches on the hard mountain floor from the impact and then straightened myself up. Then I ran over to Aelita to help her up as well.

"There are too many," Aelita said worriedly as I, once again, joined Ulrich in the front line.

"Its fine, Aelita, we can take them," Ulrich said reassuringly, only it didn't have the desired effect since he got hit squarely in the chest at about the same time he said it. He flew back and I opened my fan to block more shots that were meant for him as he recovered from the blow.

"No, you can't!" Aelita shouted, the last word escalating into a scream that pierced the surroundings. She squeezed her eyes shut hard and buried her forehead into the palms of her hands.

I knew was she was doing. "No, Aelita!" I yelled. "It'll take too much energy!"

But it was too late to stop her. She started shaking, as did the ground. The monsters stopped shooting as they scuttled around, confused and unsure of what was happening. I steadied myself by grabbing the side of a boulder. Ulrich spread out his arms to keep his balance. And still, Aelita stood there and soon she dropped to her knees.

Slowly, a stone wall a foot thick rose right in front of us, blocking us from attacks from the monsters. The monsters finally figured out what was happening when the wall was already too high for them to shoot over. They scuttled frantically, shooting at the wall. The wall stopped rising at about seven feet high. Aelita opened her eyes and panted harshly. I ran over to her.

"Aelita, you didn't have to do it! You wasted too much energy!"

"Wasted?" she asked between gasps of air. "You would have been killed. Both of you."

"Yumi? Ulrich?" Jeremy's voice sounded in my head. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, Jeremy," Ulrich answered. "What have you got?"

"You got to get out of there now!"

Puzzled, I looked around. "Why? Nothing is threatening anymore in Lyoko."

"Its not in Lyoko. Its in the real world!"

Ulrich and I exchanged worried glances. "What is it?" we asked in unison.

"Odd's been attacked by Xana's monsters!"


	8. Battle in School

Author's Note: Thank you again for all my lovely reviews. I just have to say that I really don't want to have to change all the "Xana"s in my story to "X.A.N.A.". You all know what I mean so I'll leave it. Thanks for the suggestions though! This is a REALLY long chapter, so here we go...

* * *

I shook my head as my virtualization pod opened up, trying to clear up my mind. Ulrich walked in front of it and offered me a hand up. I took it and stepped out of the virtualization pod. Then I remembered.

"Odd!" I said, starting to run to the elevator, pulling Ulrich with me. "We have to go help him!"

The elevator came down and when the doors slid open, it revealed Jeremy already inside it. We ran inside and the doors slid shut again. "That was a risky thing you did back there, jumping off the pathway like that."

"It was the only way we could come back, as you haven't figured out a way to materialize us without having us use all our life points first," Ulrich said, tapping his foot impatiently as the elevator went up. "It was the only way to use our life points up."

"Is Aelita going to be okay?" I asked Jeremy. "We left her a bit abruptly."

"Yes, she's fine," Jeremy said, adjusting his glasses. "I explained everything."

We reached the top and ran out over the bridge to the manhole. Jeremy slid in first, I went right after and Ulrich went last, closing the manhole behind him. I grabbed my skateboard and jumped on with a running start. I could just see Jeremy up ahead pushing his scooter with all his might.

He reached the ladder up to the next manhole first. He folded up his scooter and proceeded to climb up. I propped up my skateboard hurriedly, noticing Odd's lonely skateboard there too. I shook my head and ran after Jeremy.

Once out of the tunnel, we ran through the trees and to the cafeteria. It seemed we reached it at the most opportune moment for Odd's rescue to come.

"Help!" Odd was screaming. Eight blocks had surrounded the table he was standing on. All were ready to shoot.

"Oh-no!" I screamed. Odd didn't notice we were there and was still screaming frantically. "But we don't have our powers that we have in Lyoko. How are we supposed to help him?"

"Like this," Ulrich said, reaching down to grab something from the ground. It turned out to be a sizable stone. "Hey, Xana freaks!" he yelled while throwing the stone as hard as he could. "Over here! Come and get us!"

I watched, frozen, as the stone hit the corner of the nearest block. It bounced off harmlessly but the monster swiveled this way and that in confusion. Finally it stopped and focused in on us. Four of the eight blocks did the same. They started toward us.

"Okay, Ulrich, now what do we do?" I asked, backing up.

"I hadn't thought of that yet," he said nervously.

"Run!" Jeremy screamed. Seeming that it was the only good plan we could come up with at the moment, we did so. The monsters scuttled even faster when it realized we were trying to get away. The Xana symbols on them started to glow.

"Bad sign, bad sign!" Ulrich yelled as the first shot at his heels. He dodged them but barely and stumbled once but I caught his arm and pulled him back to his feet again.

"We can't keep this up!" Jeremy screamed, holding onto his glasses as he ran. He was slowing down with the physical exertion this was having on him.

I thought quickly. Just as the second wave of shots was about to begin, I shouted, "Scatter!"

I jumped to the right, Ulrich kept running ahead, and Jeremy jumped to his left into some bushes. The monsters used up their shots but only hit the ground. They swiveled around and around in confusion and then realized what we were doing. They split up as well. Two came after me.

"Geez," I muttered to myself. "I had to get the extra one." I ran as fast as I could around the corner of the building and waited, breathing hard. I could here them coming, their mechanical bodies making mechanical sounds with each step they took. I looked around frantically and spotted something shining bright in the sun. It was the sheet of metal my science teacher was going to show us an experiment with. It was next to the garden shed. "Maybe..." I muttered to myself and took off running towards the garden shed. The monsters appeared around the corner at the same moment and charged up to shoot.

I ran even faster, looking over my shoulder to try to dodge the shots. They were hitting closer and closer to home. I yelped when one singed my arm and saw a little tear in my black shirt where it had flown past it. I redoubled my efforts to reach the metal sheet. Finally I grabbed it and jumped to the side to avoid getting pummeled by laser shots. "Don't mind if I do," I said, and turned to face the monsters.

They shot, too stupid to know what I was intending. I planted my feet firmly, bracing for impact and held out the sheet of metal in front of my body. I felt the shots hit the metal and watched as they got reflected back. All the shots backfired on the monsters and they were the ones that were blown to bits of wood.

Hands shaking, I lowered the sheet of metal and examined it. Now there were a bunch of indentations in it. "Well," I said, hurriedly putting back the piece of metal before anyone saw what I had done, "I don't think we're going to have that science experiment anytime soon." Remembering Ulrich and Jeremy, I started after them in worry.

I ran back around the side of the building to the path where we had separated. It was quiet and still. I plunged ahead into the bushes were Jeremy had run into, searching everywhere to find him.

"Jeremy?" I said quietly, looking around at my surroundings. It was a good place to hide but a hard place to find people. "Jeremy? Are you there?"

"Look out!" Jeremy cried, standing up from behind a few bushes on my right. I turned to my left and saw to my horror a monster just about to fire a bunch of shots right into my body. I cried out and shielded my face but then I heard another person's cry.

I opened my eyes just a slit to see Odd jump in sideways and throw a silverware knife right into the middle of the monster's Xana symbol. It froze for a moment and then blew up. Odd slid on his shoulder on the dirt ground for a while and then straightened himself up. "All right Yumi?" he asked.

"Fine. You?"

"Ha, after I found silverware, I was fine and dandy." He smiled wide and showed me a handful of forks, spoons, and knives. "The spoons don't work as well as the forks and knives but they distract the monsters pretty well. I grabbed them from the kitchen when all the lunch ladies took off screaming."

Jeremy shook off the leaves and branches and came out from behind the bushes he was using as cover. "That jump you did, Odd, almost made me think you were back in Lyoko."

Odd smiled even wider. "I guess that's where I learned it from."

Suddenly we all froze when we heard a scream pierce the air. "Ulrich!" I yelled, recognizing the voice in an instant. I sped out of the trees and ran in the direction he had gone. Odd and Jeremy followed close behind.

I spotted him in the worst situation ever. He was plastered against a column and couldn't move with the monster right in front of him. I could tell the monster was about to shoot. I ran faster and right toward Ulrich. I saw the monster clearly now and its Xana symbol was growing stronger by the second. I ran faster. "Okay, lets see what I've learned from Lyoko." I jumped out and pushed Ulrich out of the way. I heard the shots blast into the column and heard the monster scuttle this way and that in confusion.

I landed on top of Ulrich but rolled away quickly to try and cough up the dust from the dirt to get some fresh air. The dirt we had slid in clouded up all around us. I wiped at my eyes and looked up to see Odd taunting the monster. It looked his way. Mistake. The next instant it had blown up with a fork right through the center of its symbol.

Ulrich coughed a few times and sat up wearily. "Are you okay?" I asked anxiously.

"Yeah, only because you saved me back there," he said, giving me a slight smile. I smiled in relief back at him. Despite the situation, I felt myself glowing.

"You guys okay?" Odd asked, running up with Jeremy right beside him. We nodded and Odd laughed. "Looks like I'm not the only one who's benefited from fighting in Lyoko." He glanced down and me and gave me a hand up. "Nice one, Yumi." Jeremy pulled Ulrich up next to me.

"Are all the monsters destroyed?" Ulrich asked.

Odd nodded. "All that I know of."

We looked around. The school didn't look that bad. It wasn't in smoky ruins or anything. But there were a few evident places where something had taken place, like the charred black spots on the column Ulrich had been plastered against not to mention the numerous ones on the ground. We all walked to the cafeteria where the real damage had been. Chairs were broken and overturned and so were some tables. The roof was now a huge vent with all the holes in it made by the blocks' lasers.

"Well," Odd said cheerfully, "it didn't wreck the cafeteria that badly."

"Right Odd," Ulrich said, sarcasm obviously layered onto his words. "That's all your worried about."

"At least they're all gone," Jeremy said, sighing in relief. "I realized I can't fight them not only in Lyoko but in real life as well." He hung his head in shame.

"Oh Jeremy," I said, walking up to him and putting my hands on his shoulders. "Don't be ridiculous. Of course you can fight them. I'm pretty sure we had a hard time ourselves. I mean, you saw for yourself when Odd was up on that table screaming for help like a mad man. We aren't much better off than you are."

"Hey," Odd said indignantly, "you try being stuck on a table with eight of those blocks surrounding you, ready to turn you into Swiss cheese. I don't think you would have been anything close to cool, calm, and collected." Ulrich shot him an annoyed look.

"Exactly," I said. "So...Jeremy don't feel bad."

"Besides," Ulrich said, suddenly backing up. "Here's your chance to prove yourself."

I looked up and gasped. More blocks had come.

Four more to be exact.

But this time, they looked different, because this time the blocks were...

"Colored?"


	9. Crystal Power

Author's Note: This note is dedicated to Son of Xana to whom I have to say: Muahahahahaha! (Hey, I like evil laughs too!) You'll be pleased to know, however, that this chapter does not end in a cliffhanger but future chapters will, so brace yourself. Anyway, Son of Xana, I thought you devoted your life to reading and writing fan fics (speaking of writing, you should start writing more of your own, which is really good, by the way). Oh well, I hope you enjoy the chapter! And many thanks again to my faithful readers and reviewers. You guys rock! I hope you enjoy as well. Now, on with the chapter...

* * *

"Either Xana is insane these days or he suddenly took up an interest in painting," I mused while backing up with Jeremy, Odd, and Ulrich right beside me. 

There were four blocks in all: one (I feared) for each of us. They were lined up in rainbow order: red, yellow, green, and then blue. I stepped back again.

"Hey, Jeremy?" Ulrich asked tensely. "Mind giving us some background information about these goons?"

"Sorry, Ulrich," Jeremy said nervously. "I don't have any background information on this."

"But why the hell would Xana color his monsters?" Odd said, getting impatient.

"I don't know, Odd, but move!" I screamed as they attacked. I started running to my right, sprinting my hardest in trying to outdistance the monsters. Ulrich followed me as Odd and Jeremy ran the other way. I looked behind my shoulder to see the yellow block and the blue block detach from their group and scuttle in hot pursuit of us. "Hurry, Ulrich," I said between gasps for breath, "or else they'll catch up to..."

The words stopped forming when the blue block flew over us and lowered itself onto the ground right in front of us. We slid to a stop in horror. "Since when did Xana's monsters fly?" Ulrich asked in panic.

"Since now?" I answered helplessly. "Great we're doomed now. This thing will get us no matter where we go."

"I have a feeling," Ulrich started, looking behind us, "that this is about to get worse."

I pivoted on my heels to see was he was looking at and when I saw it, I gasped in shock.

It seemed that the yellow block had grown a mechanical arm on its right side. And suddenly a sword materialized in that hand. The block brandished it at us threateningly. "Wait," I said, the clockwork in my brain turning furiously, "that sword looks familiar."

"That's because it's my sword!" Ulrich yelled angrily and without thinking charged at the block holding his sword that he would normally use in Lyoko. "Give me back my sword!"

"Ulrich, no!" I screamed as I watched him try to tackle the block. But the block shot him squarely in the chest. I watched in terror as he flew past me, getting some major air in the process and landing a sizable distance away. "Ulrich!" I yelled as the blocks enclosed the distance with me. I trembled as they positioned themselves on either side of me. Then their Xana symbols started to glow. Right before they fired, I finally was able to move my paralyzed self and I sprang to the side. The blocks' shots hit each other straight in the center of their Xana symbols and they both blew up. Relieved to be rid of them, I ran to Ulrich's side.

"Are you okay?" I asked him anxiously, helping him sit up.

"Yeah, amazingly. That was a stupid thing to do, just run up and present an open target for Xana's monsters like that." He shook his head slowly.

"You aren't hurt?" He shook his head again. "That's not possible. You were shot. You can't take a shot without at least a little bit of damage."

"I do feel a bit tired."

"Is it possible that those shots suck out your energy?"

"Beats me," Ulrich struggled to stand up but almost fell back down. I grabbed his arm to steady him. "Thanks," he said, smiling at me.

"Um...yeah..." I blushed and let go of his arm reluctantly.

"Holy crap! What's that?" Ulrich said, pointing to where the blocks had been. I looked and saw something faintly glowing blue and yellow. We ran over there, Ulrich slower this time, and started searching for the source of the glowing through the pieces of wood that had been the monsters. After a short amount of time, my face was lit up by a glowing blue light.

"What's this thing?" I asked, picking up a blue crystal on a leather cord from the monster rubble. I twisted it around for a while, viewing it from all angles before touching it. Finally, I did. It was warm and the glowing did not lessen.

Ulrich held up a similar shaped crystal from the ruins of what had been the yellow block. He gazed at the crystal in wonder. "I wonder why it's glowing."

"Only one way we can find out," I said resolutely and before he could stop me, I slipped it over my neck.

"Yumi, don't! It could be a trap!" Ulrich yelled, reaching out a hand as if trying to stop me. I stood there and watched the crystal glow steady against my black shirt that showed my belly button.

"Well, if it's a trap, it's a pretty stupid one," I stated. "Nothing's happening. Put on yours, Ulrich."

He did so reluctantly, almost reversing the action once and then forcing himself to slip it over his neck. He stood up next to me and watched the crystal as it glowed. Nothing peculiar happened. Then suddenly there was a flash of yellow light near Ulrich's right hand. He yelped and stepped back. I shielded my eyes from the light and when it receded, I risked a peek. When I did, I stood there stupidly with my mouth open in a perfect O. My expression looked something like Ulrich's.

He was holding his sword that he would normally have in Lyoko to fight with. It was the same one the monster had been holding. After the sword had been apparently materialized, the glow of the crystal around Ulrich's neck receded to its regular brightness. After a while, Ulrich finally reacted and brandished the sword a couple of times in front of him. Then his face broke out into a smile. "Sweet!" he commented and stabbed at the air in front of him a few more times.

"Hey hotshot," I said, backing up, "watch it. I'm standing here you know."

He looked up suddenly. "The blue box that followed us could fly right?" he asked excitedly. I nodded. "Then maybe you can fly. Trying flying Yumi!"

"Okay. Sure I'll fly. I've done it millions of times before, so I know just what to do!" I said sarcastically, giving Ulrich a look that said he was crazy.

"Just push off the ground or something," he said off-handedly, once again occupied by his new best friend, his sword.

I sighed and looked down at the crystal. "Here goes," I said quietly. I bent my knees and pushed off the ground, jumping a few inches into the air. But all I did was come back down. "Not working," I informed Ulrich. "Anymore brilliant ideas?"

"Do what they do in the movies. Spread your arms like you're flying or something."

"Okay," I said skeptically, spreading my arms. Nothing happened. I looked skyward. "I really feel like a fool right..." I started then choked on my words when I started rising in the air. I looked down and saw Ulrich watching me wide-eyed. I started to smile and directed myself to go to my left. It worked. I extended my arms in front of me, as if I was reaching to touch the nearest wall ahead of me. I went faster.

I whooped in delight as I looped around a tree and landed gracefully on the flat roof of the nearest building. Ulrich came running after me. "Cool! Can I try?" he asked hopefully.

"Sorry, but I got first dibs on this," I said, pretending to be arrogant. "Besides, you seemed too busy with your darling sword." He scowled at me.

Suddenly, a streak of red whooshed past my head. I screamed and ducked just in time. When I was pretty sure it had missed me, I looked behind to find an old fashioned arrow sticking out from the roof shingles. Puzzled, I turned back to the front and saw Odd running over to where Ulrich and I were, waving and shouting something. He had an odd lump on his back.

"Awesome!" I heard finally. It was what he had apparently been yelling all this time. "I shot that!" he said proudly, holding up a bow and turning around so we could see the quiver of arrows he had strapped to his back. When he turned back around, I noticed he had the red glowing crystal around his neck. "Apparently, these crystals give us powers. What are you doing way up there Yumi?"

"First of all, I'm trying to survive by dodging that arrow you just shot," I said pointedly.

Odd smiled nervously. "Oops."

"And because," I said, taking to the air again and landing next to Odd, "I can fly." I was pleased when he looked at me in wonder. "Where's Jeremy?"

"Right here," Jeremy said, appearing next to me suddenly. I jumped back in shock.

"How did you get here?" I asked.

This time he smiled widely. "Apparently the green crystal makes you run as fast as the speed of light, or somewhere in that proportion. So the naked eye can't see me when I run."

"So I see...I mean, experienced," I said, quickly correcting myself.

"And I see that you have the ability of flight and Ulrich has his sword back from Lyoko," Jeremy observed. "These will help us in the fight in the real world against Xana. It has been evidently proven true what I said about Xana. He is materializing his monsters."

"But why would he materialize monsters, that when killed, would help us?" Ulrich asked, slipping the sword into its scabbard that had also been materialized earlier.

"I'm not quite sure," Jeremy said, "but I could ask Aelita to hack into his system in Lyoko. That might give us some more answers. In fact, I want to go to the warehouse right now."

"I'll go with you," Odd offered. "Besides I want to try out my new skill."

"Just don't hurt yourself or anyone else, Odd," Ulrich warned.

"And be careful," I added.

"Careful is my middle name, guys. Don't sweat," Odd winked as he ran off after Jeremy.

"More like Trouble," Ulrich said, sighing. "I hope he doesn't destroy anything on the way to the warehouse."

"Give him a little more faith, Ulrich." I looked around. "Now, what do you say on cleaning this mess?"


	10. Sissy Problem

Author's Note: Please be patient, mornstar! I know you're probably thinking that I'm a mindless idiot just writing at whatever catches my fancy but I do have a plan! Its all in my head and all these chapters are leading up to the climax, so just bare with me. Also, excuse me, Son of Xana, about messing up your sole purpose in life! :0) (By the way, how do you juggle?? I can't do it for the life of me!) A thousand thanks to my readers and reviewers. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

I was flipping through my history book, trying to find something important on the section we were studying so I could write about it when a knock came. I pushed away from my desk, reluctant from pulling away from my studies. I didn't like to study but once I started, I didn't like to be disturbed. It broke off my concentration. I opened the door to find Ulrich standing there, all of his school books in his arms. He looked a bit embarrassed. "You mind if I study here with you?" he asked shyly. 

"Sure," I said, opening the door wider for him to get through, "but you know that boys aren't allowed in girls' dorms. I mean, look what happened to me last time when Jim busted me."

"Yeah I know, but I can't stand it over there with Odd."

"Yeah? What's he doing this time?"

"Playing with his stupid, yappy dog. That dog will kill me someday with its loud barking."

"What about Jeremy?"

Ulrich smiled and started a great imitation of Jeremy. "Oh Aelita! How are you doing today? Oh Aelita, I missed you so much!"

I laughed. "Thought so." Suddenly, I became more self-conscious. "Well...I can scoot over and you can have a half of my desk."

"Perfect," he said, dumping his math, science, and history book onto my desk with a loud thump. I winced. "Sorry," he added quickly, shifting them over to the right more. He grabbed a stool nearby and sat down next to me and opened his history book. I turned my eyes back to mine.

I know I said before that my concentration breaks if I get interrupted in the middle of my studying, but this time I truly couldn't get back on the academic track. My head was spinning and my cheeks felt as if they were having a heatstroke. I flipped a page of my history book absentmindedly, but my college-ruled paper remained blank and my pencil remained untouched. I tried reading a paragraph and I did so but when I finished the paragraph I realized that my mind hadn't gotten a single word it had said. I let my short black hair fall out from behind my ear to shield my face slightly from Ulrich, but took a quick peek at him before doing so. At least he was working fine. He was scribbling away on his college-ruled paper, his pencil working rapidly. I just sat there and tried to look productive.

Finally when I forced myself to stop thinking altogether and just read my history book I realized I had flipped way past the pages we were on in class. Hurriedly, I flipped back and found the pages again. Then I wrote my name, the date, and the period of the class on the top right hand corner of the paper and wrote the heading on the top line. I considered it a good start to actually doing something.

I made progress. I gradually figured out what I was supposed to be writing about again and flipped to that section. Then I began reading. The words finally penetrated my brain and made sense. Slowly, I began to let myself think again, but only to think about what to write. And slowly I composed my paragraph.

Suddenly, the door flew open. "Yumi! I...why Ulrich! What are you doing here?" I snapped my head up in dread.

Ulrich was already reacting to the intruder. "Sissy, what an unpleasant surprise," he grumbled. "Why don't you leave us alone and go play with your geeky friends?"

"Nice day to you too, Ulrich," she said flirtatiously. "Now would you mind telling me how you two ended up together in the same room?" I didn't like the way she said that.

"Actually," I said, seething with anger. "I do mind because it's none of your business."

"Oh, now I really want to know. What are you hiding?" She walked farther into my room. I stood up.

"Get out," I said in a dangerously low tone. She sneered.

"Or what?" she asked playfully. I almost pounced on her. "Anyway," she said, twirling a strand of her long black hair. "I just wanted both of you to know that the homecoming dance is coming up." She then turned and stared straight at Ulrich. "And I'm still free." She smiled indulgingly.

"Nice fun fact," I snarled. "But may I remind you that I'm a girl and I'm not going to be interested in your offer."

"No," Sissy said, "of course not you. But someone else in the room might want to take advantage of the situation." We both looked at Ulrich. Ulrich looked around the room in turn.

"Nope, don't see anyone else," he said bluntly and then stood up and started pushing Sissy toward the door. "Now, if you're finished advertising yourself you may leave." Sissy started to say something else, but with a great shove, Ulrich pushed her out the door and slammed it shut in her face. I felt my cheeks light up with heat again. "Now that she's disposed of, I can continue with my homework," he said causally. He settled into his seat again and bent over his book. The silence settled as well.

Finally, I broke the silence. "She knew you would be here for some reason. That's why she took this moment to pretend she wanted to talk to me." I had never turned back to face my desk. I just sat and stared at the closed door.

Ulrich stopped scribbling and looked up. "Yeah, I know. She's my stalker. And she's a really annoying stalker at that."

"Yes, and she's out to make my life miserable."

"I'm sorry. She's out to make my life a living hell."

"Yes, I can tell. But she likes you. There's a reason to her madness. But me? She just thinks it's a fun thing to make fun of me and wishes to make it a national sport. I mean, I make fun of her in return, but that's to give her a taste of her own medicine." I stopped abruptly. "And I have no clue why I'm telling you all this. I'm like Jeremy when he pours all his problems out to me about Aelita and blah blah blah. Half the time I don't even listen."

"I'm listening."

I could feel myself blushing. I lowered my head and my hair brushed over my face, hiding it. "You don't have to. But thanks."

"No problem." There was no sarcasm in his voice as he said it this time. "Is there anything else you would like to tell me?"

"No," I said, shaking my head quickly. "I'm done blubbering."

"Okay," he said and there was an awkward silence for a while.

Finally Ulrich broke the silence. "Yumi, I...um...have something to ask you."

I forced myself to look at him and smile. I felt butterflies in my stomach. "Ask away."

"Okay," he stopped and thought for a while, and then smiled at me nervously. Then he took a deep breath. "Want to go to the homecoming dance with me?"


	11. Playing Spy

I lay in on my bed, the darkness of the night engulfing me. I let it, enjoying the quiet and temporary peace of the night. Then I smiled, emitting my joy and happiness from that single smile.

I relived that moment, that wonderful moment in which Ulrich asked me to the homecoming dance. And I could see again the relief and joy on his face when I said yes. He left shortly after but I didn't care. My smile stretched to cover a sense of triumph. Sissy was no match for me.

I sat up and stared out the window. The stars were out, twinkling their small amount of warmth and light down from the heavens. I reached underneath my bed and pulled out my duffel bag. Then I reached into that and pulled out the glowing blue crystal. It made a pocket of blue light in my cupped hands and it lighted patches of walls and ceiling in the otherwise dark room. I turned it around and around, studying the intricate cuts in it. It was long in shape, long and thin, and it fit just right into my palm.

Suddenly, a scraping of footsteps could be heard just outside my door. I froze, the hand holding the crystal closing over it. The footsteps got louder as they passed right outside my door (I thought I heard a muffled sound too) and then receded in noise as they walked away. I could tell from when they got closer that there was more than one person sneaking around at night. Quickly, I grabbed my shoes and slipped them on, adjusting my plaid pajama pants around them. I slipped the crystal into the pocket of my pajama pants. The flannel covered the glow until it gave off no more light than a dying ember. On cat's paws, I glided out of my room, closing the door softly behind me. Then I played the spy as I trailed after the sound.

I followed it outside, making sure to always keep a fair distance between the mysterious noise and me. The night wind was chilly and I wish I had had enough common sense to grab a jacket before I came sneaking out here. _To late now_, I thought and proceeded carefully, now watchful for Jim and for the source of the noise.

But it seemed I'd lost track of it. I looked around nervously, the pitch dark only lit up a bit by a half moon. The wind blew my short hair into my face and I brushed at it annoyingly. Once I got my vision clear again, I saw two figures close together faintly outlined in the moonlight. I silently ran to behind a building and looked around the corner, squinting to try and see them better.

Finally I made out one figure. Sissy, with her long hair and her skirt over her pants as some lame fashion statement. She appeared to be talking, waving her hands around in emphasis. I leaned out farther and squinted even more to make out the second figure.

Then I stepped back and gasped loudly just as the two figures' heads touched in the darkness in an unmistakable kiss. I recognized the second figure's body posture, the slight slouch with his hands always in his pockets, his hair always spiked a bit in the front.

It was Ulrich.

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In the wave of shock, rage, and jealousy that came over me, I forgot for a millisecond that sounds are louder than they really are in the silence. So you could imagine my horror when I remembered that critical fact right after I let out my anguished gasp. I watched as Ulrich's figure suddenly straightened up and looked in my direction. I started backing up as he started advancing. I heard him call my name. I turned to run, then thought better of it. He would be sure to see a black figure flitting back to the building of the dorms, especially since now he would be looking extra hard and then he would know for sure I had been spying. So instead, I reached for my better alternative. My crystal.

It turned out to be about the same as making a break for the dorms. My brilliant idea was shattered when I took it out and it let off its piercing blue glow. I watched as it spread in a great aura around me, making me stand in a very, very visible spotlight. Ulrich called me again, his voice much closer than before.

In my panic, I slipped the crystal over my neck, looked up and spread my arms. I soared gently into the air. I took spot of a nearby tree and quickly flew over and settled in it. Once balanced in my crouched position in a crook of the trunk and a branch, I used a hand to close off the blue light from the crystal, balancing my position with the other. The night plunged into darkness again, but this time it seemed darker as my blue light abruptly went out.

"Yumi?" said Ulrich's voice. He had rounded the bend of the building. I felt myself tremble but forced myself to remain calm. My hand tightened around the crystal. I heard Sissy's voice faintly, calling Ulrich's name but it soon stopped as she inevitably gave up. Ulrich stopped in place and waited a couple of minutes in the gloom. Unsure of what he was doing, I remained in my position as well, starting to get cramped, uncomfortable, and cold. Finally he moved, bending down and fiddling with his shoe. When he straightened up again, he was holding his yellow crystal in front of him like a lantern. _Damn_, I thought. _He was smart enough to bring his own crystal too._

Fortunately the pool of light generated from his crystal didn't quite reach me. I breathed out a slow sigh of relief.

Suddenly, a squirrel scampered from the base of the trunk of the tree in which I was hiding into Ulrich's pool of light. Unfortunately, it made such a loud noise in the unchanging silence that I was startled. I started to rock back in the tree. I reached out with both hands to grab anything that would keep me from falling.

Blue light spilled from the crystal, as if I had been keeping it hostage all this time and finally it was set free (and in a way it was true). It poured out, illuminating the whole tree. Shocked for the second time in a minute, both of my hands flew to cover the crystal. Bad move. I hadn't quite regained my balance yet to do such a thing. With a loud crash and a painful thump, I fell out of the tree into the bushes nearby.


	12. Change of Heart

"Yumi? Are you okay?"

I scrambled up hurriedly, fighting my way through the twigs and leaves that were everywhere. Finally I regained my feet and stood up angrily in an explosion of leaves and dead twigs. "Get away from me, you jerk!" I screamed as my face burned in embarrassment.

"Yumi, were you spying on me? I can't believe you would spy on me."

I made an angry sound in my throat, totally aware that I still looked like a mess with twigs and dead leaves caught in my hair and my feet still standing in the bush I had fell into. "That's beside the point," I snarled.

"How much did you see?" Ulrich's voice and face were nervous now.

"Oh lets see," I said girlishly, pretending to think. "About everything that you would wish you could hide," I concluded harshly. "If you wanted to go to the homecoming dance with Sissy, you could have just asked her! Be my guest! But you didn't have to ask me, and then sneak out here and make out with her to prove that you could get any girl you wanted! And you know what? To prove you wrong, I'm not going to the dance with you and I'm going back to my dorm room right now. You're not worth my time."

I struggled to wade through the bushes and finally triumphed, but not without an assortment of scratches on my arms, hands, and legs. "Yumi, its not what you think, really! I didn't want..."

"Save it scum!" I yelled at him. "No one wants to hear your pitiful lies. Oh, I have a better idea. Tell them to Sissy, your new true love. I'm sure she would love to hear all your problems."

"Yumi, listen, I didn't come out here in my own free will. Sissy dragged me out here..."

I wasn't listening because I was dealing with my own problems. I couldn't believe it. My eyes were wet. I had not cried in years, many years. My tears only added to my burning rage. I was not going to start crying after all these years of not a tear shed and I was certainly not going to waste my tears on Ulrich. Not after what he did to me.

"Yumi," he said, starting to yell. "Are you listening to me?"

"Why should I?" I said, turning my back to him. Even though I was pretty certain that he couldn't see my teary eyes in the dark, I shielded my face from him, just in case. "You have nothing to say."

"I would if you listened."

"You know what?" I said. I couldn't stand it so I finally turned around to face him. "Shut up! Okay? Do me a favor and just shut up!" I could hear my own voice clearly in my mind and it sounded awfully tearful. But that could be explained. My heart had just been stabbed and torn brutally into millions of pieces, and then it was thrown on the floor. My hurt was unimaginable. I turned and bolted, bolted from that no good old snake.

I came fully back to my senses when I was already in my dark room. Finally, I destroyed the dam that had been keeping my tears at bay and they poured out silently. I buried my face in my pillow and cried.

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The next morning, I woke up tired and unwilling. I looked at the clock that was on my bedside table. It read 4:30 in the morning. Perfect time for a nice, soothing, warm shower. I placed everything I would need into my black drawstring bag and slung a bathrobe from my arm. Then I went out into the hall and prepared to head for the girls' showers.

"Yumi?"

Not quite awake, the voice gave me a scare and a wake up call. I gasped and looked to my right. Ulrich was leaning on the wall next to my door.

"What time did you have to get up to get here this early?" I asked with a yawn.

"It doesn't matter. I didn't sleep all night anyway."

I yawned again and started walking. "Sissy's room is farther down, by the way."

A sharp bang woke me up anew and I turned. Ulrich had pounded one fist into the wall he had been leaning against. I could tell he was angry. "I didn't come to talk to Sissy, Yumi. I came to talk to you."

I started walking again. "Suit yourself, but there isn't anything to talk about."

"Just listen okay? Shut up and listen."

"Fine."

"Sissy dragged me out there in the middle of the night to force me to ask her to the homecoming dance. She sent Herb and Nick to lure you from your room and outside in time to see her kiss me, which was utterly gross if you wanted to know. Anyway, the whole point was to make you mad and jealous, which I can see it did."

I lifted up a finger and Ulrich stopped. "Mad yes," I corrected, "but jealous, I don't think so. At least not now. I don't care now. Go with her if you want."

"I don't want to go with that slut, Yumi. I want..." he trailed off as we neared the door to the girls' showers. "I want to go with you."

I stopped and sighed. "Sorry, Ulrich. I can't. I have work to do."

"Yumi..."

I turned away without another word.

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School was routine that day. Ulrich and I avoided each other the entire time. Sissy watched from the shadows, although she needed a bit of work on her spying skills (then again, I do too). I was relieved when the last bell rang and I filed out of history. Everyone else ran off through the doors, laughing and talking loudly. Why shouldn't they? It was Friday. It was also the day of the homecoming dance, which I was not going to.

Odd was waiting for me outside of the history building. "We need to talk," he said and led the way to a nearby bench between two trees.

"Of course, Odd, no need to say hello."

He hesitated. "Hello," then he paused. "Are you happy now?"

I nodded and shrugged. "I was just kidding."

He sat down on the bench, facing me. I sat down next to him. "Well, it didn't seem like you were kidding. Actually, you haven't smiled all day. And neither has Ulrich. Did something happen between you two?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," I mumbled.

"Actually, yes I would. I hate it when you guys fight."

"Then, stay out of it, okay?" I said gently. "Its not your problem."

"But...I just wish everyone would be happy."

"If only, Odd. If only."

Silence settled in on our conversation. I watched as two girls ran to the fields, giggling and laughing together. I couldn't remember the last time I had a best friend that was a girl. I now wish I had one. She would understand all that I was going through. She would make sure I was being cheered up with words of comfort and jokes intended to try and make someone sad laugh. I sighed. Aelita briefly fluttered into my head but she fluttered out just as quickly. She was only virtual. She didn't have nearly what true human best friends have.

"Well, then," Odd said, stretching out in the sun and shade, returning to his old self. "Going to the homecoming dance tonight?"

"No."

"No?"

I nodded. "You?"

"I'll go to trash the party." He laughed a bit. "Probably not. I'll stick around Jeremy and maybe have a little fun in Lyoko."

"Why? I thought you didn't want to go to Lyoko anytime soon."

"Well, I'm starting to want to go back to that insane place. Besides, its more fun there than to see you and Ulrich tear each other to pieces with your silent treatment." I looked up at him in surprise as he stood up. "Got to run. Lyoko awaits." He turned and walked away in the direction of the forest in which our secret tunnel was. I sighed and sat with my chin cupped in my hands for a while, my elbows propped up on my knees.

Just as I turned to go, Sissy's snobby voice pierced through the air. "What?!" she screamed. Then I heard footsteps getting closer. She appeared right in front of me. "Yumi," she said, her usual fake niceness gone. "Have you heard? Ulrich's going with Emily to the homecoming dance!" she yelled, infuriated. I kept my face calm and careless but inside I felt a lurch. "That little twerp! I thought that when you were out of the picture he would obviously come to me. But no...Emily! She's a no good..."

"Wait, what?" I said, standing up, this time my turn in being angry. "You got me, 'out of the picture?'" I snarled, holding up my index finger and middle finger of both hands and bending them twice in quotation marks.

Sissy stopped raving and turned a bit pale. "Oops. I shouldn't have said that."

"I can't believe you Sissy! It was true, all that Ulrich tried to say to me. It was you!" I pointed an accusing finger at her. She stumbled back a step.

"I've got to run!" she said, smiling nervously. "See you tonight!" Then she zoomed off in the direction of the dorms.

I watched her as she ran off, still shaking in rage. Then I sank back down onto the bench in despair. Ulrich had been telling the truth and I had just ignored him completely. I couldn't believe my bad luck.

"Why the long face?" I looked up through my shimmering eyesight (I couldn't believe it. I was on the verge of crying again!) and saw Ben standing there, his face full of compassion. "Was Sissy trying to beat you up again?" He sat down next to me on the bench.

"No, no," I said hurriedly. "I'm okay. Really." I resisted the motion of reaching up to wipe away my tears. That would give me away for sure. But then I felt a cool drop of water slide down from my eye down my cheek. I bit my lip.

Suddenly, Ben reached up and gently wiped my tear away with his finger. His finger lingered on my cheek for a moment, long enough to make me blush. Him too, I noticed. He let his hand drop and he fidgeted uncomfortably for a while. "Hey, Yumi," he started, staring at the ground. "I was wondering if you aren't already going with someone to the dance that maybe we could...well, you know..."

"Go together," I finished for him. He looked up at me in relief. I smiled and answered without hesitation, "I would love too."


	13. Xana Takes Action

Author's Note: I just HAD to thank all my lovely reviewers!!! I love how you guys give me feedback on every chapter!!!!! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!!!!!!!!!! Hope you enjoy this REALLY long chapter!!

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I ran out of the building that contained all the dorms, my heart beating fast and hard in my excitement. But my excitement wasn't enough to block out the cold. I was wearing something different than what I usually would: a short black leather skirt, black leather boots that covered up to my thigh, and a black tank top that was decorated on the side with swirling, glittering red flowers which revealed my belly button. I tapped my foot impatiently and shivered again.

"Cold?" someone said behind me. A jacket settled about my shoulders from behind. I turned and saw Ben's grin light up his face. He looked better than usual, with his hair slicked back nicely and his black clothes matching mine of the same color. I smiled brightly; feeling my heart slightly mend after what Ulrich did to it. I actually was looking forward to going with him to the dance. He took my wrist gently and slipped something on it. I looked down and saw a glittering bracelet that weighed a considerable amount. It gleamed in the light of the lampposts, the bangle black at one angle, slightly dark orange at another, and slightly dark red at yet another.

"Ben! It's...beautiful!" I gasped. I looked up at him with a big grin.

"I'm glad you think so. I think it's beautiful too. It matches you well." All the blood in my body felt as if it was rushing to my head. He winked. "Let's go." He interlocked his hand within mine and pulled me toward the gym. Its windows were already pulsing with the lights that were going inside.

We ran inside to find the dance floor crowded with people dancing to the throbbing beat. Ben took his jacket from my shoulders and slung it on a nearby chair. Then he took my hand again and led me onto the dance floor.

It was very crowded and I ended up separating from him through all the pushing and shoving. Numerous people stepped on my feet and I was thrown for quite a ride as I neared the center of the dance floor. I began to question the brilliant idea of wearing a mini-skirt to these kinds of occasions. Nevertheless, I pushed forward...maybe a bit too hard.

Someone pushed me from the back, causing me to fall forward into the person in front of me. The person in front immediately reacted, turning to set me back on my feet again. As our eyes met, I gasped.

"Uh...Yumi..."

"Ulrich..."

We said all this awkwardly and at the same time. Our eyes never left each other's. Finally I looked away and pushed on. I could feel Ulrich staring after me.

Someone grabbed my wrist. I turned to see Ben. "I thought you'd been killed back there," he joked.

I looked back the way I had come. This time I saw Ulrich stare directly at Ben. The stare was icy cold. "Just about," I said, turning to Ben and smiling.

My body tensed when his hand touched my waist. I wrapped one arm around his neck, my body swaying to the music. Then I put my other arm around his neck as well. When I moved, his hand slid a bit to touch my bare skin. My skin tingled in response. I looked everywhere but his face. He moved closer and I put my head on his shoulder for a bit, though I straightened up right away when I saw Ulrich still staring at me and Ben. I wished I could go over there and slap him out of it.

Suddenly, Ben closed the distance between us rapidly. Both of his hands touched my waist as his lips touched mine. I closed my eyes and let him kiss me, feeling a warm tingling sensation spread through my entire body. It felt exhilarating...for about a half a second.

Then I felt through our kiss who he really was.

Frantically, I unwrapped my arms from his neck and shoved him away from me as hard as I could. I expected him to look confused, puzzled, or hurt but his face just showed malicious pleasure. I watched in horror as his pupils started glowing red. I started retreating as he started advancing. "Yumi," he said in a voice thick with enticement, "come dance with me."

"No," I whispered. "No!" I turned on my heel and bolted for the door, ramming into people in the process. I didn't bother to say sorry. I didn't have time. I wove through the throng of people, some turning to scold me, others just continuing to dance. Through it all, Ben, or what had been Ben, kept coming for me. I broke free from the crowd and scrambled frantically into the darkening night.

I was amazed at how quickly it got dark. I looked over my shoulder. Bad idea. Ben kept coming. But he wasn't running after; he was walking after me. The look of malicious pleasure was still in place on his face and his body seemed unhurried, calm and sure, as if he knew that no matter what I did, he would still reach me in the end. I pushed on and sprinted to a nearby building. I turned and disappeared behind it.

I stayed there, plastered against the wall and breathing hard. Then, after a while, I looked around the corner cautiously. To my surprise and fear, Ben had disappeared.

"Looking for me?" I turned back forward and screamed to see Ben right in front of me.

"No!" I yelled, turning sideways, shielding my face and squeezing my eyes shut. Then I braced myself for whatever would happen next. I expect him to reach for me, to try and kiss me again.

Then I heard a muffled thump of two bodies hitting one other and then heard the thump of both of them hitting the ground. I risked the peek and saw to my surprise and relief that Ulrich had tackled Ben to the ground.

"Go, Yumi!" he said through clenched teeth, wrestling with Ben who was evidently much stronger than Ulrich.

"Not without you," I said and grabbed Ulrich's arm, pulling him to his feet. Then I pulled him away from Ben and started running, not with a particular destination in mind, just to get away from Ben.

Ulrich ran faster and caught up with me. "Damn it Yumi, I was trying to save you."

"You did fine."

We rounded the bend of the building that housed the dorms and slowed down a bit. I cocked my head at him and said between gasps for breath, "What happened to Emily?"

He blushed and lowered his head, avoiding my face. "If I had to choose between you and Emily," finally he met my eyes, "I would definitely choose you."

It was just as well that it was getting darker because I went into a blushing fit right after he said that.

"Aw...how cute! Our two lovebirds."

I turned, already knowing what was going to be there. Ben stood there, arms crossed in the night, standing resolute and proud. "I thought you liked me better, Yumi."

"In your dreams, you creep," I screamed. I turned to run, but something hit my wrist and made it sting. I looked down and saw the bracelet Ben had given me just moments ago. I slipped it off behind my back, and then swiveled on my heels and threw it as hard as I could toward his head. It struck home and he stumbled backward at the attack. I turned around again and ran.

"What is up with that guy?" Ulrich asked, urgency plain in his voice, "We never can seem to lose him. And what was that that you threw?"

"I threw a bracelet he had given me earlier. It was pretty heavy so I thought it might slow him down but not by much." I turned to look at Ulrich. "Ulrich, I don't know how but he's controlled by Xana."

"What?"

I nodded and looked ahead. We were running through the halls parallel to the fields. "When I kissed him, I knew. His eyes started glowing red and the Xana symbol appeared momentarily on his forehead. Xana has apparently infused him and I think Ben can spread Xana through to other people."

"How?"

"Through a kiss. I know because I felt it. But I pushed him back before Xana could get to me."

Ulrich didn't respond for a while but then asked, "But how did Xana get to him the first place?"

This time I was silent as I thought hard. Suddenly I remembered Xana's monsters attacking us in real life. "Maybe Xana's monsters materializing have something to do with it." I gasped. "Maybe..."

"When you get shot, a little piece of Xana gets into you," Ulrich finished for me. "That makes sense. But what about the time I got shot?"

I had my answer immediately. "Remember how you said you felt tired after you were shot?" Without waiting for a reply I plunged ahead. "Maybe Xana was breaking down your resolve to resist him. We must have built some sort of defense from him because we know more about him and encounter him more. But regular people wouldn't have that defense and so one shot is enough to transform them into Xana's zombies."

"We have to warn Jeremy and Odd."

"How?" I looked up in surprise. "Wait! I know how!"

I stopped and knelt. Ulrich stopped a few paces ahead and looked down at me. "Are you crazy?"

"No, just resourceful," I unzipped my right boot and reached inside. Then I pulled out my blue crystal on a string. It was glowing, as usual, as if everything was fine and dandy. I zipped my boot back up. "Actually, I kind of got it from you, Ulrich." I could make out Ulrich smiling in the dark since he had hidden his crystal in his shoe as well, the night in which I fell out of the tree.

Without further ado I slipped the crystal around my neck and ran to find open sky above me.

"Take my hand," I instructed Ulrich, "and don't let go unless you want to break your back." Ulrich's warm hand slipped into mine. I suddenly felt fuzzy and warm inside.

I looked up into the sky and stretched out my free arm. Slowly I began to lift up. We ascended much more slowly this time since Ulrich was with me, adding extra weight, but I continued to try to get us to a considerable height. Finally I pushed off to my left and we gained momentum. I flew around to the front of the dorm building and started looking for Jeremy's window.

"There," I heard Ulrich and looked to see where he was pointing. I flew closer to the window. It was glowing a yellow light. It was almost the only one with the light on, although the one next to it did also. Odd's room.

I flew up right against Jeremy's window and knocked on the glass. He saw us at once, as he was working on his computer and his computer was facing the window, but that turned out to be a problem because his computers blocked any entry from the window. He motioned for us to go next door. I nodded and flew over a little to the right until I was in front of Odd's window. Momentarily, I saw Jeremy burst into his room. Odd, enveloped in his comic book he was reading looked up surprised and when told to look out the window, was even more surprised when I waved back at him. Jeremy, without delay, opened the window up and I flew in, making sure Ulrich cleared the windowsill. Then I set him down and settled my feet on the floor as well.

"Thank god that's over," Ulrich commented, rubbing his shoulder and looking at me. "I was about to remind you that my arm was connected to the rest of my body."

I smiled wistfully. "Sorry, but that's the joy of flying."

"I can see you two are back on good terms," Jeremy stated, sitting down on Odd's bed next to a disgruntled Odd at being disturbed. I sat across from them on Ulrich's bed and Ulrich sat down next to me.

"Why aren't you guys partying at the dance?" Odd asked, flinging his comic book to one side.

"Let's just say the party was crashed," I started.

"What? And the party crasher wasn't me!" I had Odd's full attention now. "Man, that sucks!"

"Well, Odd, once you're over the fact that you weren't the one that wrecked the party for us, we can continue to tell you some more bad news," Ulrich said, giving Odd an serious glance.

"More bad news?" Jeremy asked, his brow creasing in worry. "Xana?"

Ulrich and I nodded in unison.

"Okay, I'm over the party crasher thing now," Odd said quickly and leaned in to listen.

Ulrich and I took turns explaining what had just happened in as much detail as we had. Jeremy and Odd listen very attentively (that was no small feat for Odd). Their faces were of mixed emotions when we finished filling them in. Mostly it was dominated by surprise and fear.

"Xana's getting smarter," Jeremy said quietly. "That's for sure." Then he stood up. "Let's go talk to Aelita."


	14. Infected

Author's Note: I'm apologizing in advance because this chapter is shorter than the previous ones (and some of you might be grumbling about this unhappily). I think I have one more short chapter coming up and then a long one so please don't kill me!! Son of Xana and aznBLONDiE, you guys rock (you've reviewed my story the most)!!! But I love all my reviewers dearly, so thank you! Now read this short chapter that promises long chapters to come...

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"I've finally uncovered some information on what Xana's trying to do, Jeremy." 

"So have we," Jeremy countered. "Tell us yours first."

She nodded, her pink hair bobbing up and down. "I found out something when I hacked into Xana's system in Lyoko. Apparently, he was materializing his monsters when he discovered a glitch in his system. He found it about the same time Ulrich and Yumi were in Lyoko. He realized that he had programmed himself to be too fair. When Ulrich and Yumi materialized out of Lyoko to help Odd, four blocks of the colors red, yellow, green, and blue materialized as well. Four. One for each of you. They posed a little threat to you, but not much so you could retrieve the crystals and us them against him."

Jeremy nodded understandingly. We all crowded around Jeremy in his swivel chair, brows furrowed in thought. "Anything else, Aelita?"

She paused, then nodded again, but I saw that this time it was more wistfully than the time before. "Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich can't come back to Lyoko anymore. At least not now."

"What?" Odd, Jeremy, Ulrich, and I all exclaimed in unison.

Aelita closed her eyes for a second and then opened them again, as if trying to lift some worry off her shoulders. "If you came to Lyoko, Xana would just send hoards of monsters after you."

"Like he doesn't do that already," Ulrich stated flatly.

"No," Aelita shook her head quickly. "He will use you to kill his monsters. That's the quickest way to get them materialized though I still haven't figured out why he's doing so."

"That's where we come in," I said, and started explaining Xana's tactics for the third time with help from Ulrich. When we finished, her look was off complete horror.

"Obviously, Xana's materializing more monsters to expand his army of zombies," Odd stated.

"But he doesn't need as many as Aelita says," I pondered, "since it can be spread through a kiss."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Sorry, Aelita," Jeremy whispered. "Got to go." Aelita nodded one final time before her image melted away into the screen with green numbers and figures running up and down it vertically. When she was gone, all of us turned to face the closed door.

The knock came again, but it surprised me with its lack of persistence. It was as if it was waiting patiently, beckoning for us to open it, politely waiting to be invited into the room. It came again and I'm sure we all concluded it couldn't be Jim. He would have broken the door in two by now in his fury of not being acknowledged. No, it was someone else, but I wasn't sure if it was someone I wanted to face.

Nevertheless I pushed off Jeremy's desk and started for the door. I felt someone grab my arm. I turned and saw it was Ulrich and he looked worried. I smiled slightly and continued walking. His hand slipped to my hand and then dropped to his side.

The knock came again but it didn't seem hurried. I was right in front of the door now. I didn't know why it had to be me opening the door but I felt it was my responsibility. I reached out to touch the doorknob and saw how fragile and white my hand was. I felt so weak all of a sudden, so vulnerable. I squeezed my eyes shut and pushed these thoughts forcibly away. I was a girl, but I was a tough girl. I could fight anything.

Maybe I was wrong...just this once.

I finally twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open slightly. Nothing happened but for some reason, I kept looking down.

Then a hand reached out and seized me harshly. I flinched from the grip and in a second was pulled outside. I heard Ulrich scream my name and knew he had started for me. But I couldn't do anything. It seemed all my resolve had broken down. I finally realized it was Ben's first kiss that was slowing my thinking and reactions down. Xana had gotten to me after all.

The other hand reached out and grabbed both my hands tightly. He brought up my hands and placed them close to his chest. My eyes followed our hands and then looked up to see Ben's face. His eyes were still glowing, but he didn't look as hostile anymore. He looked handsome and kind, as if he knew I wouldn't have any strength left to resist him.

I didn't. He was absolutely correct.

"Xana will reward me greatly for this," Ben breathed into my ear.

When Ulrich finally flung open the door wide in an attempt to save me, Ben had already leaned in and was kissing me hard.


	15. Painful Cure

"Yumi!" he screamed in rage and in a sharp thud had punched Ben across the face. I kept my eyes closed but I heard Ben run into the opposite wall from the impact. Then I heard him slide down to a sitting position dejectedly on the floor.

"Yumi! Yumi?" Ulrich walked up to me and grabbed one of my hands with his. "Say something."

"Ulrich," I breathed, tasting the name on the tip of my tongue.

"Yes, Yumi," I heard Ulrich sigh in relief. Inside I smiled. "You're all right," Ulrich said.

Ulrich. His name triggered something in my mind. Oh yes, sweet little Ulrich dear. My eyes snapped open. Ulrich. He was my target.

Ulrich suddenly started back away. "Yumi, your eyes..." he backed up some more. "Their glowing...red."

I reached out and grabbed one of his hands before he could back up more. Then, without a word, I started dragging him toward the open window at the end of the hall. "Odd! Jeremy!" Ulrich was screaming. "Help!" I paid him no heed. Besides, drawing Odd and Jeremy out of the room would help in my cause, since they were next. I smiled wickedly. Xana was going to reward me greatly for this.

My crystal of blue still glowed brightly as ever, as if nothing important had happened. I placed my foot on the windowsill and faced skyward, my hair brushing softly against my outstretched neck. Then I spread my free arm out and out the window I flew with Ulrich hanging on just behind.

I had a glimpse of Odd and Jeremy waving like madmen out of the window but I was far up above them already, soaring rapidly upward to the slanted roof of the building of the dorms. When I reached the top, I landed slowly and turned to face Ulrich.

Ulrich wrenched his hand free of mine. "Yumi!" he cried, the wind whipping his clothes about. "Yumi! No." He closed his eyes against the bitter wind and I slipped closer. He stepped back accordingly. I looked behind him worriedly. He was uncomfortably close to falling off the high building. I would be punished for sure if I let him die.

Ulrich tried again. "Yumi! I'm your friend! Don't hurt me!" He backed up a few more steps.

The red light in my eyes flickered uncertainly. "Friend?" Ulrich saw me falter and nodded. He took one step forward. I gritted my teeth and fought against the uncertain feeling. Friend? As if! What was he playing at?

"No!" I screamed into the wind. Ulrich flinched and stepped back once more.

Suddenly I felt a burning on my chest. I looked down and saw my crystal glowing brighter than before. I reached to touch it, and then yelped when it burned my fingers. My red eyes widened when I realized what it was doing. It was fighting me. It was fighting Xana. Enraged, I tore the crystal and the cord it hung on from my neck and drew my arm back to throw it away. Before I could I was tackled over.

Ulrich was on top of me and was pressing the blue crystal into my hand hard. It burned so much. I screamed in pain. "Sorry, Yumi," he whispered. "Its for your own good."

In horror, I saw him bring out his own crystal. It glowed yellow then flared to life when it neared my skin. He pressed it into my other hand and kept it squeezed between our palms. The crystals' power burned through me, demolishing Xana when it came across its path. Finally, the burning sensation swept through my mind and I blacked out.

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I opened my eyes slightly, but closed them again because my head started to sear with pain. I finally attempted the motion again and this time I forced them open. Everything swirled around for a second and then everything came into focus. I pushed myself up weakly and looked around, reaching up to tentatively rub my aching head.

Where am I? I realized suddenly that I was in Odd's and Ulrich's room. Why? My answer came immediately and flooded my brain, all the memories of last night. It made my head throb even more, if that was possible. I squeezed my eyes shut again to block it out and then opened my eyes once more to look at the darkened room. I recognized that I was in Ulrich's bed with his blanket over me. I wondered where he was. I looked around and found him on the ground, sleeping on a thin spare mattress. His favorite olive green T- shirt was his flimsy blanket.

I stared at his face a bit longer. It looked peaceful but worried at the same time. It looked so nice that I would have kissed him. He had saved me. Saved me from evil Xana.

I slipped the blanket off my body and reached down to take his olive shirt. He shifted slightly but didn't wake. I silently draped the blanket over his sleeping form and watched as he shifted a bit more to get used to the new feeling. Soon enough he stopped and slept peacefully again. I smiled. It was the least I could do for him.

I lay back down, my head plopping on the pillow. I spread his shirt over myself and curled into a tight position. His shirt smelled nice; it smelled like Ulrich. I smiled with my eyes closed and drifted off to sleep.


	16. Greeting the Day

Author's Note: Thank you, thank you, thank you for my reviews! I just had to say to the reviewer who goes by orange that the scenario you asked me about could have been true, but I never had Sissy kiss Ulrich (ewwwwwwww.....) and you don't know if she's infected or not. It would have been a cool idea though! And sorry Son of Xana for not making the evil longer, but I had to move on with the story. I hope you understand. ;) Also, mornstar, I could have them cure everyone (though that would take an awfully long time) but they aren't exactly sure who's infected or not (you can't really tell if your just passing them by). Now on with my chapter...

* * *

I could tell it was morning through my eyelids. I still had my eyes closed, but I had just awakened to the sound of voices. I shifted a little to get comfortable on the lumpy bed and felt the blanket shift with me. Ulrich had covered me with the blanket again. 

I then heard the distinct voices of Ulrich and Odd. I decided to wait to open my eyes just for a little longer.

"Odd, would you cut it out with your horrible humming? It's driving me nuts," Ulrich muttered grumpily. I heard the sound of a page turning. "Besides, it might wake Yumi up."

"Aw...we can't have that happening, now could we? Your precious Yumi."

"Odd!"

Even though I was trying to pretend I was still asleep, I could feel my face heating up.

"Just kidding!"

"Well, it wasn't funny." There was silence for a moment and I could hear Odd still humming his tune on his Walkman faintly. "Hey, what happened to that Ben guy last night after me and Yumi went up to the roof?"

"Well, we were going to go after you, but decided that that would have been suicide, so we wanted to go talk to Aelita about what we should do. When we turned around, that Ben guy had run off."

"Hmm..." I could tell Ulrich was in deep thought. "That's not good. There's no telling how many girls that pretty boy can get to join Xana."

"Oh..." Odd said playfully. "Jealous? Jealous that he got to kiss Yumi before you?"

I fought to keep my face composed and dipped my mouth slightly underneath the blanket to keep it from view. I heard the scraping of the chair on the floor.

"I said quit it with that, Odd," Ulrich said angrily.

"Take a chill pill, man. I was only joking."

I heard the sound of the door opening. "Hey guys." It was Jeremy.

"Hey Jeremy."

"Hey."

"How's Yumi?"

Odd sniffed. "Lazy, if you ask me. And I thought I was a sleepy head."

"Hey, she went through a lot last night. Its not her fault," Ulrich said immediately in my defense.

"Yah, whatever," Odd said nonchalantly.

"Well, just wanted to tell you that I'm going to the factory. Anyone want to come?"

"I'll go," Odd said, yawning loudly. "I need a walk."

"Ulrich?" Jeremy questioned.

"Nah, I'll stay here. I have some science reading I need to catch up on."

"More like catch up on some smooching with Yumi." Ulrich must have given Odd a look that threw flaming daggers because Odd immediately said in a rushed tone, "Well, Jeremy, what are you waiting for? Let's rocket." I heard Odd's footsteps run out the door.

"We'll alert you if something happens," Jeremy said reassuringly.

"Ciao," Ulrich said as goodbye and Jeremy shut the door.

I quickly debated about what to do. Finally I decided to wait five minutes before making any sudden moves. After about what I thought was five minutes, I gave a loud yawn.

"Yumi?"

"Hmm?" I said sleepily. I opened my eyes slowly and rubbed my eyes as if to rub the sleep from them.

"How do you feel?"

I pushed myself up and ran my fingers through my hair. Ulrich stared at me with a friendly smile on his face. "I'm okay, although it's too bright in my taste."

Ulrich's smile widened as he turned to look out the window. "Well, it's about time to greet the day."

Suddenly, my cell phone vibrated in my pocket where I had slipped it just in case something happened. I straightened out my skirt and took it out to look at the display. When I read the reminder, I gasped and clasped a hand over my mouth. "Oh my god!" I panicked.

"What?" Ulrich said, turning away from his science book to see what was wrong.

"I completely forgot! I'm supposed to visit my parents today." I mashed a palm of my hand into my forehead. "I'm such an idiot. They'll kill me if I don't go!" I scrambled out of bed and turned my cell phone off. In a hurry, I ran for the door then stopped myself. "Um...Ulrich?"

"Yes?" Ulrich immediately gave me his full attention.

I looked at the floor, suddenly embarrassed. "I wanted to thank you. You know, from saving me from Xana. I owe you big time."

Ulrich smiled sweetly. It made my heart melt. "No sweat," he said nicely.

"I'm sorry I can't stay to chat but my parents will get really mad if I don't come home today." I reached for the doorknob and opened the door. "See you around. I'll be back by tomorrow evening, I promise." I wasn't sure if my eyes were tricking me, but I thought I saw his face fall in disappointment.

"Okay," Ulrich said, turning back to his science book. "Have fun."

I hesitated and wondered if I should say something else, but couldn't think of anything. So I closed the door quietly behind me and raced for my room. Once there, I changed into my regular black shirt and pants, slipping the cell phone into my pocket again. I threw all my schoolbooks into my bag and checked to make sure I had everything. Satisfied, I walked out of my room and turned to go.

"Yumi?"

Surprised, I swiveled around to fine Ulrich behind me, leaning against the wall next to my door, his schoolbag packed and ready to go. "Going to school?" I asked teasingly, raising an eyebrow.

"Actually, I was hoping I could go to your house with you, you know, so you could give me some extra...tutoring. I'm not exactly Jeremy so I need help on some subjects." He looked at me hopefully. I felt for some reason that what he was saying was only half true, but I smiled anyway.

"I'm sure my parents won't mind. Come on." His face lit up instantly as he followed me out of the dorms building and out through the gates of our school.


	17. Home Sweet Home

Author's Note: Thank you so much for my reviews. Son of Xana, I can tell you are really obsessed with evilness, but unfortunately for you, the romantic part continues here. Sorry! Just don't kill me or anything. To Shesu-San, I didn't intend for Jeremy to sound stupid. I just wanted him to be worried about his feelings about Aelita and so on and so forth because I'm guessing it's the first time he's been in love. And to orange, I honestly forgot about that scene (oopies) but even though Sissy kissed Ulrich, you still wouldn't know if she was infected or not. That is something that you will have to find out by reading on. And I'm sorry to report that this fan fic (my first, by the way) is rapidly coming to a close. But I'm thinking about doing a sequel so let me know if you want one. Now, on with the chapter...

* * *

I ran straight ahead through the streets of the city. I knew them well. Just last year I would walk home everyday after school. I was glad this year my parents gave me some more freedom and let me stay at the boarding school in a dorm. 

In no time I was rounding the last bend and my house came into view. I slowed down a bit and pushed open the white wooden gate that led up to the walkway up to the front door. Ulrich and I trudged across the front porch and I rang the doorbell. I noticed Ulrich was fidgeting awkwardly.

"Yumi!" came my mother's high-pitched voice. She flung open the door and gave me an embarrassingly tight hug.

I scrunched up my face and said in a muffled voice, "Nice to see you too mom. Now would you mind? I do need air to live, you know."

My mother stepped back and held me at arm's length away from her. "Getting more beautiful every time I see you."

"Mom!" I said indignantly. I risked a glance at Ulrich; he was suppressing the urge to snicker. I glowered at him. Then I turned back to face my mother. "It's only been a month, mother." I swallowed and said more nicely, "Mom, can Ulrich study with me today? He...uh...needs help on his homework and would greatly benefit if I helped him."

"He friend?" my mother said, looking Ulrich up and down. Ulrich turned slightly red.

"Yes...mother," I said through gritted teeth. Why did my family like to embarrass me so much? "You've met him before."

"Oh," she said, her Japanese accent strong in her broken English. "Um...would you like me to tell father he's here?"

"Uh sure, whatever" I said quickly. "Come on, Ulrich let's go." I dragged Ulrich into my house by the arm. He smiled wide as he passed my mother, as if trying to convince her that he was a good guy.

I ran to my room and after Ulrich was inside, I shut the door safely. "Whew," I said exasperated, plopping my bag onto the floor. I looked around my room. It was neat and orderly. Obviously mother had been cleaning it.

"Your mother seemed...er...nice," Ulrich commented, pulling out his geometry book.

I pulled out my own math book. "You don't have to be so modest. She's a big pain. She and my dad seem to take pride in embarrassing me in front of my friends."

Ulrich snorted. "Not as bad as my parents. My mom doesn't hesitate to pull out my baby pictures to show off to family and friends and my dad is always complaining. If I'm playing soccer outside or something, he says I need to study more. If I'm in my room studying for more than an hour, he'll barge in and say I should be doing something fun, like playing soccer." He shook his head. "Its hopeless."

I laughed. "No wonder. I was wondering where you got your personality traits. Their obviously hereditary."

"Hey!" Ulrich said indignantly, balling up a piece of paper that had fallen out of his backpack and throwing at me. I turned away and it hit my shoulder. I picked it up and was about to throw it back when I caught my name on it. Interested, I went to smooth it out. Before I could, Ulrich snatched it from out of my hand.

"What was that?" I asked curiously, watching him shove it into the far reaches of his backpack.

Ulrich's cheeks turned slightly red. "Nothing," he mumbled and clipped his backpack shut. "Now," he said hurriedly, as if to change the subject, "geometry. I never did get geometry."

I smiled. "Maybe you should pay more attention in class instead of staring out the window."

Ulrich blushed a deeper shade of red for some reason. "Yeah, I should," he said brusquely, brushing it aside. He opened his geometry book to a book- marked page and stared down at it. I stared down at it also and saw the page full of circles. He scratched his head. "How do you find the area of a circle again?"

I shook my head. "Wow, Ulrich, you're more behind than I thought."

I spent the next hour and a half catching Ulrich up on everything he had been missing. He was smart, I found out, but he just didn't like to show it. Soon we had worked through geometry homework and we were ganging up on history.

"I need to go to the bathroom, hold on," he said, pushing himself off the floor and opening my bedroom door.

"Okay," I said, without looking up from the history book we were sharing. "It's down the hall to the left."

"I know. I've been to your house before."

"Oh right, sorry." I heard the door close and looked up to make sure he was gone. Then I reached over and opened his backpack. I knew I shouldn't have, but I really wanted to read that note, if it was a note. It had my name on it so I had to find out what it said.

My hand was rewarded when it closed around the ball of paper. I brought it out and as silently as I could, I smoothed out the wrinkles and started to read. I blushed immediately.

"'Yumi,'" it read, "'I just wanted to tell you...well, there's no other way to put it...I love you. Before you dismiss this note as crazy or a joke, just listen. I've had a crush on you ever since I first met you and, believe it or not, through all our fights, I've just learned to love you even more. Everything about you is perfect and even in Lyoko your charm never disappears. But sometimes I have a feeling that you don't like me as I do, that you ignore me for some reason. It's okay if you don't like me back. I just had to tell you. I felt as if I was going to explode. Thanks for reading this. Ulrich.'"

Stunned, I rocked back on my heels. Ulrich had just professed his love to me in this letter (well, he would have if he had given it to me). I didn't quite know what to do or how to respond. But I knew how I felt and the first and foremost feeling I had was quite apparent. I felt happiness.

I heard the toilet flush and I quickly crumpled the note back up into a ball. Then I shoved it in his backpack and clipped it shut just as he opened the door. I resorted to looking back at the history book but in truth, everything on that page was just a blur. I could feel my cheeks burning as he settled down next to me again. He was so close to me. I tingled inside.

"Hey Yumi, are you okay? You're red," Ulrich said. I straightened up as he put his hand on my forehead. "Do you have a fever?"

"No, no...I'm...uh...fine," I turned away and his hand dropped away from my face.

There was an awkward silence. "You read the note didn't you?"

"What?" I said, still trying to calm myself down.

"You read that note that had your name on it." Ulrich sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "Don't lie to me."

I sighed as well. "Yes, I did."

Silence resumed its reign in my room. It buzzed annoyingly in my ear. I wanted to reach up and swat it away, but I knew there was nothing to swat. Instead, I sat silently, listening to the buzzing. It grew incessantly louder. Finally, I felt I had to say something to make it go away.

"Um...Ulrich...I just wanted to say that..." I trailed off. I saw him out of the corner of my eye look up expectantly. "Well," I said, dipping my head and allowing myself a small smile, "I just wanted you to know that I felt the same way about you." I laughed softly. "I guess I did a good job concealing it, right?"

Ulrich's hand came up to turn my head gently toward him. My heart pounded inside my rib cage, threatening to burst it. He leaned in, and I did too, slightly, the smile dying on my lips. I closed my eyes.

Our lips were just about to touch when our cell phones beeped at the same time. We simultaneously turned away from each other to get our cell phones, the moment lost. It was crushed even further when I read what was on the display.

We both said it at exactly the same moment.

"Lyoko."


	18. Warm Up

Author's Note: Again I apologize in advance. This chapter is super short, but the next will be super long, I promise. I would like to thank, again, my wonderful reviewers. Tarotboy, I thank you for having the patience just to read through all these chapters! Son of Xana, I'll be sure to try and put plenty of evil into my sequel if I do it and since there is mixed advice on whether I should have more romance or more action, I'm going with my original plan which is...well...you'll see, won't you? Because you're going to read the chapter! Enjoy!

* * *

We rushed out of my house in a blur. I gave my mom a broken explanation before zooming after Ulrich down the road. Ulrich dialed something on his cell phone as he ran. "Hello? Jeremy? What's happening?" His eyes widened as he listened. Then he nodded. "We're on our way."

"What's wrong?" I asked nervously.

"The school is being stampeded by Xana's new human army and Xana's monsters have also made an appearance in the excitement."

"Shoot," I said vehemently.

"Jeremy also said that Aelita spotted some kids in Lyoko. Kids that she didn't know and they were wearing uniforms that show they are apparently in Xana's army. Odd's already on his way to Lyoko. We just have to pray we get there in time." I just nodded, saving my breath for my running.

We skidded to a halt right when we got through our school's gate and watched opened mouthed at the scene before us. Hundreds of kids that went to our school were marching in the same direction. All of their eyes were glowing red and all of their foreheads were marked with the Xana symbol. I gasped in terror and remained immobile until Ulrich grabbed my hand and pulled me into their ranks. We ran through their orderly lines, crouching slightly to stay beneath their eyesight.

"Look!" Ulrich said suddenly, glancing to the left. I turned to look and cringed when I saw Xana's monsters. Five hornets were up in the air, hovering in a straight line and shooting into the crowd. I knew that there were more monsters on the ground because I could hear the shots being fired and I could hear more shots fired than I could see.

Ulrich pulled me to the other side of the marching ranks and led us to the front. I saw ten blocks lined up in a row almost looking like a barricade. They were shooting into the crowd as well. I watched as a girl got shot by a block. She didn't show any signs of emotion but she disappeared in a small flash. I pulled Ulrich to a stop.

"Ulrich, these monsters are virtualizing the army!" I whispered in panic.

"Then, let's destroy the lot of them," he said, letting go of my hand. He reached into his shoe and brought out his yellow crystal. It was glowing as fine as ever.

I knelt to get my own crystal from out of my shoe. I slipped it around my neck and soon I was airborne, hovering off the ground by a couple of inches. I looked down at Ulrich as he donned his beloved sword. He nodded at me and I nodded back. Then he crouched in his fighter's stance, ready to charge.

But before we could, Xana's monsters made the first move. All the hornets turned toward me and started shooting. I flew out of the way, zooming away from their attacks with ease and watching intently as Ulrich charged with his sword held high. "Impact!" I heard as Ulrich stuck his sword squarely in the Xana symbol of the nearest block. He yanked it out again and sprang away as the block exploded.

Shots whizzed by my head. The string of hornets was following me up into the air like a train. I shifted to the left and to the right but they wouldn't give up. I flew lower than them and skimmed over the blocks. One of the hornets shot and it flew way off target, hitting a block and exploding it.

I gazed at the scene for a moment and then the light bulb in my head turned on. I braced myself and as the nearest hornet came toward me, I rushed at it also. I grabbed it and spun it around to face its comrades. It panicked in my hands and shot lasers everywhere. I directed it into the hornets and they exploded one by one. Then I flew it over the rest of the blocks. The confused hornet destroyed them all for me.

"Ulrich!" I yelled to get his attention. He looked up. "Incoming!" I shouted and threw the hornet as hard as I could toward him. He lifted up his sword and jumped up to stick it into the hornet. The hornet exploded and his sword flew into the air. He caught it and gave me a thumbs up. I gave him a wink in return.

I landed on the ground and together we started for the manhole to the factory in a dead run. "At least that took care of that chunk of the Xana army," I panted. Ulrich nodded but didn't say anything in return.

I tried focusing my thoughts on getting to the warehouse as fast as I could, but my mind couldn't help but shudder. _Here we go_, I thought. _The final showdown._


	19. Grand Finale

Author's Note: Thank you again for all my reviews! This time I have quite a few things to say.  
First, I probably am going to write my sequel and I already have an idea. But I'm going to let you try and guess it first. In this story there is a part where I foreshadow the main plot that will be in the sequel. Send me a review or email with your guess and if you get it right...oh, I don't know...maybe you can read my story early or something. Anyway, just a little fun.  
Second, I have some responses to reviews. Son of Xana, to clarify your point, I could have had that happen, but they are zombies remember? They were instructed pretty much to get shot by monsters to get virtualized and nothing else. Also, that's why Yumi and Ulrich ran below the people's line of vision. To sirhcnotilih, the idea came a bit late so I couldn't really use it. Sorry! Was a good idea though.  
Only one more chapter after this one. Enjoy!

* * *

"Jeremy," I said, "we're here in the virtualization room." 

"Good, get into your pods," he instructed. "You're going to the mountains."

I stepped into the virtualization pod and turned around as it slid shut.

"Transfer Yumi...transfer Ulrich...scanner Yumi...scanner Ulrich...virtualization."

I flew through the tunnel that led to the virtual world and a flash of bright white light blinded me. Then I was being virtualized and I landed in a crouch on the stone pathway. Ulrich landed next to me.

I looked around. "Looks quiet," I commented, squinting at everything in the gloom.

"Yumi! Ulrich! Over here!" Aelita's voice carried through the area. I turned to my left to see Aelita running toward us with Odd just behind her. Aelita stopped when she reached us. "Good to see you," she said urgently. "We need to find the tower Xana activated right away."

"How come a tower didn't activate before?" I asked.

"When Xana changed the shot of his monsters into virtualizing rays he activated a tower," Aelita explained breathlessly. "Come on, I think its back the way we came."

With Odd and Aelita leading, we ran across the pathway, our footsteps making soft crunching noises. I saw no tower ahead but hoped there was one.

What we found was no tower. "Ah!" Aelita exclaimed softly and pulled Odd back behind a boulder with her. Ulrich and I ran to where she was hiding. When we looked at her questioningly she said, "Xana's army."

I peeked around the side of the boulder and found she was right. Numerous members of Xana's army were scattered across the pathway ahead. They seemed to be lazy and careless, and as I watched one of them even started to sharpen their sword on the rock they were sitting on. The sharp metallic scraping sound made me wince and look back at my friends.

Odd had been looking too. "Some sort of army Xana's got here." He snorted. "The kind that gets a bit tired?" He laughed but the three of us shushed him immediately.

"Maybe we can have some kind of advantage," Ulrich said, glancing back at Xana's army. He was once again thinking like an army general. I swore that in a previous life he must have been.

"Maybe," I said jokingly, "you should be on their side instead of ours. They need your tactics more."

"Very funny," Ulrich said then turned back to us. "We might be able to surprise them."

I knew what he was thinking exactly. I nodded and spotted a boulder on the other side of where we were hiding. I ran swiftly for its cover than peeked around to make sure no one saw me. Ulrich ran next and peered around to make sure all was still as it was before.

"Okay Yumi," he whispered into my ear. "Aim carefully." I took sight of a boy that was yawning and leaning back on a rock near the edge of the pathway. Slowly I unfolded my fan and closed one eye to aim better. Then, with of flick of my wrist, I sent my fan whizzing into the army's mist. The fan hit the boy square in the chest and he toppled over the side with a scream. In seconds he had fallen into the gloom and de- virtualized. I caught my fan as it came back to me. Then we waited.

The area became hushed with silence as Xana's army froze and realized something wasn't right. We heard their ill concealed footsteps crunching as they crept nearer the boulders we were hiding behind. Odd took the opportunity to aim. "Laser arrow!" Two red streaks shot out of his purple glove and struck down two members of Xana's army. They fell over the side as well; I could hear them screaming. Everyone froze once more.

"Who's there?" A voice shot out of the silence. It was one of the Xana army members. Ulrich nodded at me.

"Surprise!" he yelled and jumped in the middle of the pathway. I jumped behind him and saw the shock registering on Xana army members.

"Get them!" A boy screamed and they charged through the narrow opening between the boulders. The first that went through were instantly shot down by Odd's arrows. The rest started to hesitant.

"Run." Ulrich and I ran down the pathway, eager to put as much distance as we could between the Xana army and ourselves. Even though we had won the first battle, we were still outnumbered twenty to one and would not last a minute if we were forced to stand up and fight. I looked behind my shoulder and saw that Xana army members were running after us now and more and more were coming. Soon lasers arrows, spears, and all sorts of weapons were being thrown at us. We dodged the best we could but kept running. Finally, there was a huge boulder in front of us and the path split in two, winding itself around the boulder. Without a word, we split and each took a path, forcing the army to split in two as well if they wanted to keep sight of their prey.

Just as the path was about to become one again, I noticed through a tiny hole big enough for a person to slide through, a path down below us. I looked farther back and saw a little hole in the bottom of the boulder for someone to crawl through. I signaled to Ulrich and then jumped down through the gap. I landed on the pathway and continued in a crouch to the hole in the bottom of the boulder. I crawled through the small opening and waited for Ulrich to come through.

"Hey! We'd they go?"

"Probably farther ahead. They run faster than we thought."

"Let's go!"

The pounding of feet slowly died away. I breathed out in relief. "Good thinking Yumi," Ulrich congratulated. Then he stopped. "Uh-oh."

I looked ahead to see two blocks scuttling toward us across the narrow path. Without another word, I scrambled back through the hole and emerged on the other side. But bad news awaited there also.

"There they are!" I looked up with a gasp to find a fresh wave of Xana's army looking down at our hiding place. Ulrich emerged from the hole right as they were sliding through the gap between the two pathways up above.

We ran forward and pushed the first two off the pathway and into the gloom below. Then we continued to run straight ahead, though running slower to keep our balance. The path was very narrow and one wrong step could send you tumbling into the abyss. I heard screams behind us as the monsters, confused and unsure, shot into the Xana army. I smiled. Another glitch in the system.

Suddenly I stopped when I looked up ahead. I could see clearly two figures up ahead. One was standing with a hand on her hips and the other had his arms crossed. I gasped. Sissy and Ben.

Immediately I reacted. I turned around and placed my index finger and middle finger of both hands on my temples and concentrated. Suddenly the narrow pathway began to shake as it crumbled to nothing behind us. The yells and screams of the Xana army could be heard as they fell in dismay into the misty void below. Then I turned quickly back to face the two figures still standing unmoving on the other side of the narrow defile. I almost slipped in the process and Ulrich grabbed my arm before I could fall forward.

Steadying myself, I knew as an instinct that we would need to get on sturdy land again or else they would always have the advantage. I snapped out my fan and ran forward. When I was close enough, I let it fly. It flew right in between the both of them. To avoid it, they jumped to either side of it, making a clear path in front of us. I reached the pathway and caught my fan. They returned to face us, both of us now evenly matched.

"Yumi? Yumi! Can you hear me?" Jeremy's voice reached my ears.

"Yes," I whispered, "what is it?"

"You need to de-virtualize all of Xana's human army now. All of them. Aelita is near the tower and once we return to the past, anyone that is still in Lyoko other than Odd, Ulrich, and you will be permanently trapped in Lyoko."

I nodded. "I'm on it."

"You have thirty seconds."

"Thirty seconds is plenty," I said, determined. Then I turned to address Sissy and Ben. "It seems your time has come."

Ben narrowed his eyes at me. "Ladies first," he said as he flew at me, his staff held in front of him. Without bothering to reach for my fan, I dodged him and kicked him from behind. He flew into a nearby boulder and turned around in rage.

"Cheap shot," he said.

"Loser," I shot back. He lunged at me again but this time he let his staff fly. It hit me in the chest and I flew back into the boulder behind me. I sagged against it, catching my breath. I saw his feet come up to right in front of me.

"I thought you'd be more of a challenge. Pity."

"Pity yourself," I snarled and tripped him with a sweep of my leg. He fell forward and his staff rolled off the pathway. He watched in horror as it toppled into the mists.

"Ten seconds," Jeremy reminded me nervously.

I grabbed Sissy's whip that she had dropped on the ground and bound up Ben's hands. Then I led him forward and pushed him onto the narrow pathway on which I had come. Sissy was led by sword point to join him. "I can't believe you would hit a girl, Ulrich!" she cried.

"I didn't hit you," he corrected. "I cornered you."

"See you at school," I said cheerily and knelt down to where the narrow walkway they were on connected to the main pathway we were on. I took out my fan, and sliced it through the rock twice. Then the walkway began to sway and crumble and the last thing we saw of Ben and Sissy was them tumbling into the abyss.

"Nice work, team," Jeremy whooped.

I stood up and glanced at Ulrich. He smiled back and suddenly reached out and hugged me. I hugged him back.

"Ready for a return trip to the past, Yumi?"


	20. Sleepover Again

Author's Note: Last chapter! Thank you for all my reviews! You've all been so kind to me throughout my first fan fic. I'm going to recongize you all, so start groaning because I'm going way back to the very first review. So...find your name and bask in a little glory. Okay, here goes: Arwentheelf, wisdomk6906, Turok 2, Shevie, ulrichxyumi4eva, Sanity-Stealing-Lawn-Gnome, ChauYuuko, mornstar, Dragon Scales 13, YumiUlrich4EVR, Annomys girl, painin uranus, animegirl16, NNY273000, Kay, orange, starfires biggest fan, Shesu-San, yumi165, audi katia, Tarotboy, sirhcnotilih, spiecas, CodeLyoko, moguera, sess9, and last but not least aznBLONDiE xD, and Son of Xana (whom were my top reviewers and gets a round of applause...now you all get a round of applause...). Also thank you to anyone who gave a late review. Do not think you are forgotten; just think of it as you were too special to write here. I'm working hard on my sequel and it will probably be out very soon. Watch out for it...and I LOVE you all!!!!  
Last chapter time...

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"I'm bored." 

I banged my fists on the ground. "Enough Odd. You've been whining about the same thing for over an hour." I smiled. "Plus, you wouldn't want to have me start teasing you again about not being able to read, would you?"

"Humph," Odd said in indifference and reached out to scratch Kiwi's ears. I laughed a bit as I watched Kiwi bound up to Odd's face instead and give it a good licking.

"Hey Jeremy," Ulrich said, "maybe you should give it a rest."

Jeremy turned around and sighed. "I just can't seem to crack that code! I'm so close to virtualizing Aelita but that code is like an invisible wall that can't be breached."

I smiled and patted him on the arm reassuringly. "Trying breaching it tomorrow, Romeo. I'm sure your Juliet will understand." Jeremy blushed slightly.

"In the mean time," I said, standing up. "I think I'll go take a walk."

"At this time?" Odd asked, looking up at me.

I nodded. "Why not? The worst that can happen will be that I run into Jim." I sighed. "Besides, I need some fresh air. That dog of yours is poisoning it in this room."

"Hey!" Odd said indignantly. He shielded Kiwi in his arms protectively. "Kiwi's sensitive. Don't say that!"

"Oops, my bad," I said, rolling my eyes which signaled that I didn't really mean it. I put on my shoes and sneaked out into the hall.

I slid on cat's paws through the hallways and outside. It was cold outside but the night air was refreshing. I filled my lungs with it as I walked to try and find a bench to sit on. Instead, I found myself looking up at the tree I had once crouched in to hide from Ulrich. I laughed to myself, thinking about that silly memory. It wasn't going to happen this time around. Nope. This time, things between Ulrich and I will be different the whole time.

I reached up and found a good handhold on the trunk of the tree. I pulled myself up and slowly, hand over hand, I climbed into the tree and sat on one of the thick sturdy branches. I gazed out across the way I had come and saw a shadow steal across my vision. I smiled, already knowing who it was. I watched the shadow slide closer and closer.

"Care if I join you?"

I looked down to find Ulrich's cheerful face beaming up at me. I shook my head. "Not at all." He pulled himself up and sat next to me on the same branch. We sat in silence for a while, but then a slight wind blew and I shivered. He noticed.

"Here," he said, taking off his jacket and wrapping it around me. In the process, I could feel his body heat, he was so close. I snuggled into his jacket and gazed at him. I lost myself in his eyes and was unable to tear my gaze away. Slowly, we both leaned in. I closed my eyes and this time, our lips touched.

We broke away as a huge wind swept the tree we were sitting in. We swayed precariously from our perch. Then we both lost our balance entirely.

With a loud crash, a painful thump, and a night full of laughter, we fell out of the tree into the bushes nearby, side by side.


End file.
